Fast Track to Understanding Ham Radio Propagation - Hamvention 2023

[@EA7LAF]

Great presenter and very well explained … thanks

[@KarmaFlight]

I bought your book. I'm new, and this was a great presentation!

[@mikeh39]

There is a LOT of incorrect physics in this presentation. The most egregious mistake is the description of the plasma frequency. It has NOTHING to do with electron recombination. Plasma oscillation is the interplay of Coulomb and Newtonian forces, characterized by a classical model that was developed by Lorentz and Drude over 100 years ago. This plasma frequency describes the ability of mobile charge to respond to a time-varying electric field. A plasma frequency would exist without ANY electron-ion recombination. Aside from affecting the steady state plasma density and a negligible amount of damping, recombination is almost entirely irrelevant for describing the frequency dependence of radio wave propagation. There are plenty of other misconceptions here, but that's the biggest one.