Re: Fwd: RE: Tropo ducting

[Garrett Wollman <wollman@lcs.mit.edu>]

<<On Sat, 15 Jun 2002 01:26:07 -0400, "A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@attorneyross.com> said:

> new WEZE-FM.  But when I heard an ID, it turned out to be WTIC-FM in
> Hartford.  As I continued to search the dial, I found a couple of FM
> stations from New York.

You were probably getting tropospheric enhancement with maybe some
borderline ducting.  Particularly in that era, when the FM dial was
much less full than it is today, it would not have taken an
exceptional receiver to pull those signals out during favorable
weather.

``Enhancement'' is the word we use to describe DX which results from
atmospheric refraction of signals which are just out-of-range under
normal conditions; it's a distinct mode from ducting, which can
operate at distances of hundreds of miles when conditions are just
right.  For example, tropo enhancement is the effect which brings
Portland and Cape Cod FM stations into Boston, thanks to the
refractive effect of the cool, dense, humid air over Massachusetts
Bay.

-GAWollman