Chapter 2
Radio Wave Propagation
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
2-1.
Upon completing this chapter, you should be able to do the following:
State what the electromagnetic field is and what components make
up the electromagnetic field.
field.
State what radio waves are.
List the components of a radio wave and define the terms cycle,
frequency, harmonics, period, wavelength, and velocity as applied to
radio wave propagation.
Compute the wavelength of radio waves.
State how radio waves are polarized, vertically and horizontally.
State what reflection, refraction, and diffraction are as applied to
radio waves.
State what influence the earth's atmosphere has on radio waves and
list the different layers of the earth's atmosphere.
Identify a ground wave and a sky wave, and describe the effects of the
ionosphere on the sky wave.
Identify the structure of the ionosphere.
Define density of layer, frequency, angle of incidence, skip distance,
and skip zone.
Describe propagation paths.
Describe fading, multipath fading, and selective fading. Describe
propagation paths.
State how transmission losses affect radio wave propagation.
State how electromagnetic interference, man-made/natural interference,
and ionospheric disturbances affect radio wave propagation. State how
transmission losses affect radio wave propagation.
Identify variations in the ionosphere.
Identify the maximum, optimum, and lowest usable frequencies of
radio waves.
State what temperature inversion is, how frequency predictions are
made, and how weather affects frequency.
State what tropospheric scatter is and how it affects radio wave
propagation.
2-1
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