Archive - Waiting for the Grayline
May 15, 2021
Every weekend we present a notable item from our archives. This EPOD was originally published May 15, 2004.
Provided and copyright by: Thierry Lombry
Summary author: Thierry Lombry
The photo above showing the onset of evening twilight was taken from Elvange, Luxembourg on March 30, 2004, at 18:45 UTC (6:45 PM. local time). The Fritzel beam antenna in the foreground is cut for bands at 20, 15 and 10 m (or 14, 21 and 28 MHz) and belongs to Mr. Gunter Meier. At dawn and dusk, high frequency (HF) shortwaves can take advantage of the line of the terminator (approach of Earth's shadow -- seen hugging the horizon) to reach far across the globe. This is because at that time, and for approximately the next hour, while the D and E layers of the ionosphere are vanishing, they're replaced by the F layer, located at an altitude of about 150-200 km (90 to 120 mi).
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