Last Updated on May 24, 2026 by John Berry
Personal background
Hi, I’m John Berry. I was first interested in ham radio as a kid in the 60s and got my callsign GM8JBJ in the early 70s. I then went professional and for many years I worked in the UK, travelling worldwide, and ran radiocommunications companies. For the most part I did nothing in the hobby until 2019. My core interest now is radiowave propagation in the Earth’s atmosphere and just above into the edge of space.
This site documents my investigations and understanding of propagation. In this AI age, a note: I have written all 110 pages. If my concepts and explanations are correct, that’s down to me (and the many engineers and scientists that have gone before to whose work I’ve referred). If those concepts and explanations are wrong and need amendment, that’s down to me too.
Hover over the Knowledgebase menu for a drop-down of the sub-topics.
Engineer domains
Engineers have used radio waves to communicate between two points on the Earth’s surface since the late 1800s. Today, that communication is ubiquitous across the four principle services – mobile, fixed, satellite and broadcasting – and across the emerging sub-sectors of space and radionavigation. That communication has transformed the way we all live.
Radio waves propagate from one point to another (or rather, one point to many others, as you will read here) through the Earth’s atmosphere.
The Earth’s atmosphere
The Earth’s atmosphere comprises five concentric spheres. Propagation in the lowest layer, the troposphere, is typically point to point. Propagation in the other four upper spheres (and onward to the Moon, around 384,000km away) involves some sort of reflection, refraction or scattering of the waves. There, signals from one point on the Earth’s surface typically go up, get reflected, refracted or scattered and come back down somewhere else.
Whether or not this propagation is useful depends on the efficiency of the various mechanisms. That efficiency depends in turn on the propagation mode (as a set of connected mechanisms), equipment used and frequency of the signal.
Engineers have designed communications systems to exploit particular modes. Radio amateurs (or ‘hams’) can investigate, analyse and research using low-cost equipment to probe those modes and propose new. The goal is greater understanding of the science of the atmosphere – and having some fun along the way.
Professional and amateur worlds
Engineers design systems for society. They want high effectiveness, supporting communication for high percentages of time and locations. Radio hams are happy with very low effectiveness. They will rejoice in a fleeting communication. But those fleeting communications build understanding. And understanding feeds new modes that engineers may subsequently exploit.
There is much known about the Earth’s atmosphere – particularly since mankind has launched research satellites into the thermosphere and exosphere. There is now much theory supported by research. And yet there is still much to know.
This site
On this site, I aim to add to that knowledge about the Earth’s atmosphere by explaining rather than by undertaking new research. My target audience is the radio amateur who wants to understand, not just do. It’s the radio amateur who wants to go beyond programming a handie and putting up an end fed half wave. My aim is to explain so that both new entrants to the hobby and old can enjoy their activities though knowledge.
The site is a continual work in progress I started in 2021 and it will likely span many years.
In the menu above, you’ll find a note of my station, my areas of interest and how to contact me. The central body of the site, with papers, is in the Knowledgebase.
Hi, John. I was doing some Bing searches on ground wave propagation et al and came across your website. We have some common interests and background. I became a Ham in 1965. I got my Novice license at age 13, Technician at 14, General at 16, and Advanced in my 20s. I’m retired and have just gotten back on the HF air after 21 years.
I was a principal systems engineer with Boeing and Northrop Grumman and worked onsite at NASA and NOAA for 20+ years. After that I became a high-tech entrepreneur and owned a professional sports car race team. We won Rookie of the Year and 3rd Place in the Championship of the 2000 Trans Am Series out of 38 teams. We had 4 podium finishes and 7 Top-10s in a 12-race season. 🙂
After retiring, I took up writing. I started on a spy thriller novel and got about a third written when I went back to work for a year. I did complete a ROM-COM screenplay titled “Everyone Loves a Mensch.” My memoir is about 40% done and I have a pre-Apocalypse thriller annotated and partially written.
I did a lot of research about the Sun and wrote an article/blog piece called “Here Comes the Sun – Part 1 Heliophysics.” I put a link to it on my blog at bobsteelewrites.com. I’m writing Part 2 now Here Comes the Sun – Spots and All, which is about the ionosphere and wave propagation. That reminds me. Way back when I was a Petty Officer in the US Navy (cryptologist), I took a course on wave propagation, and I recently found the text manual while searching through boxes for my log book. 🙂
I look forward to reading your posts and hopefully chatting on the air.
73 de W4EGJ
Bob Steele
Summerfield, North Carolina
p.s. That was my granddad’s callsign for 50+ years. He became a Ham circa 1929, and the FCC issued him the W4EGJ in 1933. He was active until 1982. I have his last log book as a keepsake. He passed away in 1995 (age 96) and I requested to switch my callsign to his.
Hi Bob,
Many thanks for commenting here.
It’s fascinating to read about your varied career. From electronics to sports cars to writing. And now ham radio. It’s always great to hear about what folk do after retirement. Indeed, like you many don’t retire at all. They just change focus. My interest in propagation started when I ran the Philips Radio Propagation Group back in the 80s. But it’s only now that I’ve the scope to study the other 90% of the topic.
I’ve my second management book to be published in the next day or so. But, I can say, I’ve never done anything in sports cars!
Do keep in touch. I look forward to working you some day.
73, John GM8JBJ
Thanks, John!
Congrats on your new book.
I’m working out some kinks with my new station. Five years ago, I bought an Icom IC-705 and a portable vertical antenna. We were living in an apartment on the ground floor, so I figured I would operate from one of the picnic tables in our complex. It turned out there was an incredible amount of noise coming from the buildings, especially from the heating & A/C units for each apartment that lined the back and sides of the buildings.
I worked one CW contact after about 12 hours of answering CQ calls and making my own. I put the gear away in a storage tub. Last year we were started packing up to move and I gave the station to a friend to use for SWL.
We moved into a single-family home again about 8 months ago. It’s in a rural area about 12 miles from our daughter’s home, so we make the trek for babysitting the grandkids.
With the help of family and a friend, we tried mounting a Comet CHA-250HD on a pitched roof mount. The roof mount was insufficient to hold the 23′ tall antenna. So, we moved it to a ground position. Even laying flat, the roof mount was still insufficient, so we secured the 5′ mast to a post on our carport. The antenna is leaning and you can easily reach and touch it from our deck. So, I only operate when no one is visiting.
The IC-705 is behaving weirdly. It suddenly stops hearing any station on any band. I power it off and back on and it works again. I used to have an Icom IC-730 with a vertical antenna that worked quite well. I worked 66 countries, including Australia, New Zealand, and even Tasmania, as well as Japan, Russia, China, all of the European countries, Israel, South Africa, and two other African countries. In the several moves we’ve made since 2005, I have unfortunately lost my logbooks.
About 65% of my contacts were CW. Way back when I was a Petty Officer in the US Navy, I was certified at 20 wpm and pretty solid at 24 wpm. I’ve started copying and practicing with my keyer. I will be giving it a go shortly at about 13 wpm.
Have a great day!
Cheers and 73,
Bob, W4EGJ