"Bill Everhart" wrote in message
...


I've been wondering: If a shortwave transmitter was put on Mars could
I pick it up - at night I mean?

Probably. The ionosphere would refract the received signals, but I think it
would still come in if it hit the ionosphere at a the correct angle. If the
signals were directly overhead, absorbtion would be the main problem.

There's a couple of small bands in SW allocated to radio astronomy. One is
around 13MHz and the other is around 26MHz.

Would I need an external antenna?

Only if the signal from Mars is weak when it gets to Earth. As long as this
is hypothetical, let's give the Martians a terawatt transmitter and a
steerable parabolic dish a mile across. In the real world, radio astronomy
needs good antennas.


BTW - I tune down.

Never up?

Frank Dresser