This is pretty good, but there's one serious flaw that I've noticed in both clips. Both the TV meteorologist in the first clip and the operations manager in the second don't seem to really distinguish between E-layer propagation ("E-skip") and tropospheric propagation ("tropo"), although the OP in the second clip does seem to properly "simplify" what tropo is.

E-skip is a rather exotic and currently inadequately understood phenomenon whereby usually VHF signals are temporarily and erratically reflected off of the E-layer of the ionosphere due to it becoming temporarily reflective of the signals. The seasonality of it suggests correlation with exposure to increased solar radiation.

"Tropo", simply put, is caused by weather conditions when warmer rather than colder air is high aloft. The mass of warmer air causes a figurative "duct" that refracts rather than reflects the radio waves. Both VHF and UHF waves are routinely effected and it's most pronounced during the warmer months and in warmer and more humid climates. Most interestingly, certain geographical areas of the world seem to be routinely affected by intense tropo, such as the Persian Gulf (where Dubai, Qatar and other places are) and the Gulf of Aden in the Middle East.

William Hepburn explains tropo and its variants

William Hepburn's tropospheric ducting forecasts

In the top left menu, select "Middle East" to see some of what I'm talking about when I mentioned intense tropo. The tropo over the Gulfs in the Middle East seem to be routinely at the "extreme" end. Co-channel interference between FM radio and TV stations and other radio services in the VHF and UHF bands must be a huge problem around there these days.

Last edited by tdotwriter (June 19, 2026 4:53 pm)

RadioActive wrote:

I note what you say, but I'm just glad someone is finally mentioning DXing at all. 

I definitely am too.