[CQ-Contest] Ionospheric heating

[Tony Field]

From: "Tree N6TR" <tree at kkn.net>
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Ionospheric heating

 > Finally, for those who think the ionosphere might be non-linear -
 > I think they need to think about what would happen as a result.
 > As W8JI mentioned, there would be a big mess created by the
 > mixing effect.....
etc...

Although I don't really understand this area at all, it seems to me to
be reasonable to assume that there are definite non-linearity's in the
ionosphere.

How do the various layers change during day/night if the effect is
truly 'linear'.  Obviously the layers themselves are an indication of
non-linearity.

Another non-linearity is the "Arctic Flutter" effect that is often
heard when communicating with the northern part of Europe.  This must
be caused by some refractive effect (i.e. non-linearity).

Another non-linear observation - why is RTTY and PSK31 so unreliable
when the path is close to the poles.    Also I have experienced very
non-linear RTTY signals (looking at a scope output) when simply
transmitting over 'clean' paths in North America.  Seems to me that
this is not just a polar effect.

The third is obvious multi-pathing due to ionosphere (and possibly
atmospheric on 10M) effects.  This can be a shear effect or a layer
effect.

Maybe the term 'linear' should be better defined when talking about
the ionosphere.  I suspect (and am quite possibly wrong) that Tom W8JI
and Tree N6TR are really talking about 'consistency of effect' rather
than an 'electrical linearity'.  Maybe I am barking up the wrong
tree????

tony field (ve6yp)
field at nucleus.com
ve6yp at rac.ca
http://www.qsl.net/ve6yp
http://www.nucleus.com/~field


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