On 1 Oct, 00:28, "
wrote:
On 30/09/2010 21:34, andy wrote:





On 30 Sep, 15:10, Mizter *wrote:
On Sep 30, 2:46 pm, *wrote:

[snip]
Dover-Calais, even inside the restaurant, there's always some coverage
by UK or French networks on the passenger decks. Outside on top, it's
usually though not always possible to select one's UK network from
just outside Calais

You can pick up the French networks when walking along the cliffs near
Dover.

Of course, but I didn't mention it because as this is mainly British
readers we'd be less interested in doing so

I was once surprised to get 14 networks shown on a search from the top
of the ferry, on an old phone with 1800 MHz only. It wouldn't actually
log in to the Dutch ones though.

Wouldn't the Netherlands still be too far to pick up any networks from
the Channel, however?- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Normally yes, but sometimes the signal can be received further away
than simple line of sight, which from the top of a ferry would be 10
or 15 miles to sea level, or from a 400 cliff or mast would be about
25 miles, and obviously Holland is lower than Dover

In certain weather conditions, vhf and uhf radio waves can go a lot
further. In areas of high pressure the atmoshere will have a
temperature inversion at a few thousand feet, where the air for a
while gets a bit warmer rather than cooler with a rise in height. In
the same way as a mirage in visible light, where you might look at hot
ground in the distance and see the sky shimmering in its place,
because the light has been bent slightly, the radio wave is refracted
at the inversion and bent slightly towards the earth again.

But even though TV viewers get co-channel interference and radio
amateurs might get contacts hundreds of kilometres away, a hand radio
with only about one watt transmitting power won't log in a long way
away however sensitive its receiver, and Steve Terry mentions timing
issues as well, which I don't know enough about.