what are the best conditions of radio communication?

Answer 1

Best voice conditions normally are to be within 35 miles of station you intend to communicate with and clear of obsticles such as hills or mountains near the station in line with your transmission.Also the higher the altitude of the flying plane, the further out you can transmit and receive. The problem is that sometimes that can also mean interference from other airports operating on the same frequency. This is especially true of the unicom freqs.. 122.7 122.8 122.9 123.0 MHZ. Weather normally doesn't bother the reception and transmission unless in immediate areas of thunderstorms but AM signals on the FM band, even that interference is light. Heavy rain can interfere with GPS signal reception though.

Automatic Direction Finding equipment (ADF) is heavily affected by lightening... as a matter of fact, we use it as a poor man's storm scope since the needle will swing around and point to the lightning, it helps to identify in what direction the storm is more severe.

Further information on radio communication can be found in the sectional maps, Enroute Low Altitude maps, FAR's, Approach Plates and Airport facilites directory. They give you codes, change over points for reception and plain English on the effective range of radio nav aids. Basicly these are tested by the FAA continuously to determine on a site by site and variances based on direction from the transmitting station how far out they will work reliably for signal reception and transmission. Enroute Low Altitude charts show in each airway the MRA (minimum reception altitude) and change over points to the next navaid to ensure reception.

Answer 2

Best for point to point is that you are high and so is the antenna of the person you are trying to contact. If you have line of sight and a directional antenna that will get you a few million miles with a reasonable amount of power.

For aircraft a VHF transmitter will get several hundred miles coverage from 35,000 feet with simple antennas on both ends. Just outside of OAK I can hear aircraft handing off to SEA and SLC with a discone antenna (broadband, non-directional, receiving antenna).

For HF winter evenings with high sunspot activity.

Answer 3

As far as I am aware a clear/open area is the best for radio communication as radio waves bounce off of objects denser than them.

Answer 4

With a huge variation in conditions between HF (short wave) and UHF, you need to be a lot more specific in your question.

Answer 5

Could you please specify the modulation and ranges involved/desired?

Otherwise, it would be a comfortable armchair, with a nice cup of coffee and a babe with the sweetest voice on the other end.

Answer 6

At night, in clear weather.