Given the current meteor shower in progress, the first thing I'm going to tell FM Part 15 broadcasters is--don't be surprised if you get requests for verification (QSL) from people who have heard your station 'way ouf of your intended range of coverage.
During the summertime, there's also a thing called "skip" that will cause unusual propagation of your signal as well (E layer, F layer etc.).
Given the current meteor shower in progress, the first thing I'm going to tell FM Part 15 broadcasters is--don't be surprised if you get requests for verification (QSL) from people who have heard your station 'way ouf of your intended range of coverage.
During the summertime, there's also a thing called "skip" that will cause unusual propagation of your signal as well (E layer, F layer etc.).
Both meteor scatter and tropospheric conditions will take your signals far, far outside of your intended coverage area, and if you get a request for a QSL of such a reception, I would urge one and all to honor such request instead of passing 'em off as crank reception reports just because YOU don't think they're possible.
They are, and such reports are a source information as to your actual range under these sorts of special conditions as well as indications of your actual antenna angle if you're running directional.
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AM Part 15 is a different animal because of the frequency range. Unlike the high frequency of FM, AM gets absorbed by the tropospheric layers during the day, instead of propagated. But AM, unlike FM, can propagate quite well via groundwave in addition to the typical skywave, and if you operate just before sundown and after dark, you too can expect to be heard outside your intended coverage area.
Heads up.
I'll be monitoring the FM band for a bit to see what comes in 🙂
Experimental broadcasting for a better tomorrow!