Mike Coslo wrote in
:

wrote:
How far away from viewers are VHF signals typically broadcast?
(i.e. up to 1000 miles)
Pretty much line of sight is the rule at VHF and above. The line of
sight is baaed on the curvature of the earth, and modified by the
respective heights of the two stations.

A nice little on-line calculator is at:

http://www.qsl.net/kd4sai/distance.html

enter the heights of the two antennas, and it will calculate the
distance that you can expect to cover.


Sometimes there are propagation effects that will dramatically
extend
the range, but these are the exception not the rule, and although
amateurs have a lot of fun with the effect, it isn't reliable for any
length of time.

Yep...and tropo scatter, the only RELIABLE long-haul VHF mode is way too
weak for TV broadcasting, though it does work great on CW or SSB with
good antennas and equipment. When I had a 19el antenna at 85 feet in
Nova Scotia, I could reliably work Cape Cod, 500 miles away, on 2m CW.
But it took high selectivity, and a good preamp even with that antenna
and both stations running about 600 watts out. About 60db overall path
gain over a 1w signal. Plus the bandwidth gain from TV to CW is about an
additional 48db.


--
Dave Oldridge+
ICQ 1800667