Bill...
Let's suggest 'short range' within 30 miles, medium range 30-300, and long range >300 miles, up to, let's say 3000 miles. Note that we'd like to function with only the ground wave components of the signals, with a range only of 30-80 miles or so, rather than with the reflected 'skywaves' that are distorted by the ionosphere. Note also that 'too many' signals will send your system into what we might call 'signal interference' mode... a 'variety' of the interference mode is 'burst' mode, where some repeating signal triggers interference for a brief time. In my experience, with my system, antennas, etc, I expect to go local interference on moderate to strong cells within 20-30 miles, using the H field antennas, and 10-20 with the E fields. This is part of the networking... if I go interference, the network covers the nearby strokes, until activity lessens, or storms move out of my area. I can drastically reduce my gains, for example, and operate in what I might call "local" mode, but that doesn't help the network. The network is designed to be extremely functional as stations go in and out of interference. Many of us in the US can 'crank up' and exceed 3500-4000miles... but the signals are practically useless, since other stations nearer have better quality signals. The system will use the best quality signals, so distance isn't really the issue with a network of reasonable station density. Meantime, I'll be pushing interference limits because of the activity in that 4000mi circumference and cluttering up the server and using my bandwidth with un-necessary data.
We have a lonesome single station in Hawaii that occasionally will nail a stroke or two in the Gulf of Mexico... so the system, properly optimized, with home built antennas has more than enough sensitivity but more of us in the US are dialing back to "Under 1200mi" since our stations are less needed in more distant areas, and our data may not even be selected for computation.
It's about locating accuracy, quality of signals...
Oh, forgot:
Most of the US operators hang out at http://www.wxforum.net/index.php?&board=115.0
Come join us, if you haven't found us yet...
Mike
Let's suggest 'short range' within 30 miles, medium range 30-300, and long range >300 miles, up to, let's say 3000 miles. Note that we'd like to function with only the ground wave components of the signals, with a range only of 30-80 miles or so, rather than with the reflected 'skywaves' that are distorted by the ionosphere. Note also that 'too many' signals will send your system into what we might call 'signal interference' mode... a 'variety' of the interference mode is 'burst' mode, where some repeating signal triggers interference for a brief time. In my experience, with my system, antennas, etc, I expect to go local interference on moderate to strong cells within 20-30 miles, using the H field antennas, and 10-20 with the E fields. This is part of the networking... if I go interference, the network covers the nearby strokes, until activity lessens, or storms move out of my area. I can drastically reduce my gains, for example, and operate in what I might call "local" mode, but that doesn't help the network. The network is designed to be extremely functional as stations go in and out of interference. Many of us in the US can 'crank up' and exceed 3500-4000miles... but the signals are practically useless, since other stations nearer have better quality signals. The system will use the best quality signals, so distance isn't really the issue with a network of reasonable station density. Meantime, I'll be pushing interference limits because of the activity in that 4000mi circumference and cluttering up the server and using my bandwidth with un-necessary data.
We have a lonesome single station in Hawaii that occasionally will nail a stroke or two in the Gulf of Mexico... so the system, properly optimized, with home built antennas has more than enough sensitivity but more of us in the US are dialing back to "Under 1200mi" since our stations are less needed in more distant areas, and our data may not even be selected for computation.
It's about locating accuracy, quality of signals...
Oh, forgot:
Most of the US operators hang out at http://www.wxforum.net/index.php?&board=115.0
Come join us, if you haven't found us yet...
Mike
