{"id":2573,"date":"2020-08-07T09:54:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-06T23:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/2020\/08\/07\/mars-book-review-martian-propagation-martian-moons-as-vhf-repeater-sites\/"},"modified":"2025-07-21T13:31:46","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T03:31:46","slug":"mars-book-review-martian-propagation-martian-moons-as-vhf-repeater-sites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/2020\/08\/07\/mars-book-review-martian-propagation-martian-moons-as-vhf-repeater-sites\/","title":{"rendered":"Mars: Book Review, Martian Propagation, Martian Moons as VHF Repeater Sites"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/div>\n

In SolderSmoke #224 I mentioned the Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson. I found a book review in The New Yorker<\/i> (see below). In Red Mars they mention that there is no ionospheric propagation on Mars. W1PJE and K1RID point out that this is incorrect — there is ionospheric propagation on Mars. K1RID provides a link to a really detailed NASA study of this question (it includes discussion of the effect on propagation of Martian dust storms — good to know!). Finally, 2E0CHK suggests placing VHF repeaters on the two moons of Mars. I found a good article about the overhead passes of these moons. See below for all. <\/b>

<\/b> AND REMEMBER: THE ELSER-MATHES CUP REMAINS UNCLAIMED! <\/b>

<\/b>
Here’s a review from The New Yorker<\/i>: <\/b>

<\/b> https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/books\/page-turner\/our-greatest-political-novelist<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n

———————————- <\/p>\n

Hello Pete and Bill,<\/b><\/div>\n

<\/b><\/div>\n
Listened to your latest SolderSmoke podcast. Enjoyable as always. But you should correct the record: Mars does have an ionosphere!<\/b><\/div>\n

<\/b><\/div>\n
https:\/\/www.google.com\/amp\/s\/<\/wbr>www.wired.com\/2017\/04\/mars-<\/wbr>ionosphere-cold-lifeless-<\/wbr>filled-heavy-metals\/amp<\/b><\/a><\/div>\n

<\/b><\/div>\n
The peak daytime electron density (“M2 layer”) is low in altitude – perhaps 130+ km, about our E region – and density is like our E region too (5-10x lower than our F region). So for the Mark Watneys carrying their Homebrew rig and inverted V, probably only a few hundred km to the first skip zone. More NVIS flavor than anything else.<\/b><\/div>\n

<\/b><\/div>\n
Fun to think about. You should go and test it out!<\/b><\/div>\n

<\/b><\/div>\n
73<\/b><\/div>\n
Phil W1PJE<\/b><\/div>\n
————————————————-<\/b><\/div>\n

<\/b><\/div>\n
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BTW, this made the rounds in our club last year:<\/b><\/div>\n

<\/b><\/div>\n
https:\/\/descanso.jpl.nasa.gov\/propagation\/mars\/MarsPub020318.pdf<\/a><\/b><\/div>\n

<\/b><\/div>\n
dit dit<\/b><\/div>\n

<\/b><\/div>\n
73 de Ed, K1RID
Newburyport Electronics & Radio Society
www.K1YRD.org<\/b><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/b><\/div>\n

<\/b><\/div>\n
——————————————<\/b><\/div>\n

<\/b><\/div>\n
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2E0CHK<\/a><\/cite><\/span>August 1, 2020 at 4:04 PM<\/a><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
Hey Bill,<\/b>
No skip on Mars ?<\/b>
No ionosphere ?<\/b>
Every cloud has a silver lining, even if Mars doesn’t have any clouds \ud83d\ude09<\/b>
Mars has two moons.<\/b>
Could be paradise for Moon Bounce <\/b>aficionados<\/b><\/span><\/span>. No ionosphere or F layer to get in the way. VHF can get around corners after all.<\/b><\/div>\n
———————————–<\/b><\/div>\n
Here is an article describing the overhead passes of the two Martian moons: <\/b><\/div>\n
https:\/\/www.space.com\/28403-astronauts-mars-skywatching-phobos-deimos.html#:~:text=So%20an%20observer%20on%20the,and%20set%20in%20the%20west.<\/b><\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In SolderSmoke #224 I mentioned the Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson. I found a book review in The New Yorker (see below). In Red Mars they mention that there is no ionospheric propagation on Mars. W1PJE and K1RID point out that this is incorrect — there is ionospheric propagation on Mars. K1RID provides a … Continue reading “Mars: Book Review, Martian Propagation, Martian Moons as VHF Repeater Sites”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2574,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,308,362],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-mars","category-science-fiction"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2573"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2573\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2575,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2573\/revisions\/2575"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}