Mr Macaulay

RADIO

COMMUNICATIONS

IN THE DIGITAL AGE

VOLUME ONE :

HF TECHNOLOGY

First Printing, May 1996

Copyright © 1996

By Harris Corporation

All rights reserved

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER: 96-94476

Harris Corporation, RF Communications Division

Radio Communications in the Digital Age

Volume One: HF Technology

Printed in USA

5/96 MG 25K

B1006

© Harris Corporation

All Harris RF Communications products and systems included herein

are trademarks of the Harris Corporation.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

1

CHAPTER 2 THE IONOSPHERE AND

HF PROPAGATION

CHAPTER 3 ELEMENTS IN AN HF

RADIO SYSTEM

CHAPTER 4 NOISE AND

INTERFERENCE

17

CHAPTER 8 HF SYSTEMS AND

APPLICATIONS

67

CHAPTER 9 FUTURE DIRECTIONS

83

APPENDIX A STANDARDS

4

61

86

APPENDIX B GLOSSARY

CHAPTER 1 PRINCIPLES OF RADIO

COMMUNICATIONS

CHAPTER 7 SECURING

COMMUNICATIONS

88

28

42

FURTHER READING

101

CHAPTER 5 DATA COMMUNICATION

VIA HF RADIO

47

CHAPTER 6 ADAPTIVE RADIO

TECHNOLOGY

56

Note: Throughout this handbook, technical terms

and acronyms shown in italics are defined

in the Glossary, Appendix B.

INTRODUCTION

T

here was a time when radio communication was one of

a few methods for instant communication across distances.

We’ve all seen black-and-white wartime film clips of radio operators sending Morse code using bulky radio equipment. After

World War II, the communications industry turned its attention

to other technologies, leading to a period of slow growth in highfrequency (HF) radio communications during the 1960s and 1970s.

However, HF, also known as short wave, is now undergoing an

exciting revival propelled by an infusion of new technology.

Genesis

Modern radio technology had its birth with the publication

of James Clerk Maxwell’s Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism

in 1873, setting forth the basic theory of electromagnetic wave

propagation.

But the first radio waves were...