# Presentation: 738588

## ITS HF Propagation Software

- Greg Hand
- US Department of Commerce
- NTIA/ITS
- http://elbert.its.bldrdoc.gov

- NTIA/ITS 13 April 2004

## Outline

- Models – ICEPAC, VOACAP, REC533
- History
- Users/Applications
- Examples
- Free

- NTIA/ITS 13 April 2004

## Disclaimer

- The software contained within was developed by an agency of the U.S. Government. NTIA/ITS has no objection to the use of this software for any purpose since it is not subject to copyright protection in the U.S.** **

- NTIA/ITS 13 April 2004

## HF Propagation Models

**ICEPAC** - **I**onospheric **C**ommunications **E**nhanced 		**P**rofile **A**nalysis & **C**ircuit prediction program
**VOACAP** - **V**oice **O**f **A**merica **C**overage **A**nalysis 			**P**rogram
**REC533** - **Rec**ommendation ITU-R P.**533**-6

- NTIA/ITS 13 April 2004

## ICEPAC

**IONCAP** – **ION**ospheric **C**ommunications **A**nalysis 		and **P**rediction program (1983)
**ICED** - **I**onospheric **C**onductivity and **E**lectron 	**D**ensity profile model -Tascione (1987)
- sub-auroral trough
- auroral zone
- polar cap
- Use Kp to model solar storms

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## VOACAP

- 1985 - VOA adopts IONCAP as model to be used for broadcast station design
- NRL - modifies IONCAP into VOACAP
- 1993 - VOACAP released
- 1993 - NTIA/ITS add DOS GUI interface
- 1996 - Windows 3.x 16-bit version
- 1997 - Windows-NT 32-bit version
- Present - 04.0324W - Windows-XP/2000/NT/95/98

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## REC533

- Recommendation ITU-R P.533-6
- First released - July 1993
- International HF Coordination

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## Users of the Software

- HF Broadcasters (VOA, BBC, ITU, HFCC)
- Military
- Defense contractors
- Airline communications
- HAMs
- HF Email – Sailmail / Airmail
- BPL

- NTIA/ITS 13 April 2004

## Other useful links:

**Join the **_[VOACAP Mailing List](http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/voacap)_**.**
- _[User's Guide](http://elbert.its.bldrdoc.gov/pc_hf/rockwell/)_** - Signal-to-Noise Predictions Using VOACAP ****	****	****	****	****	****	****by George Lane ($65)**
- _[VOACAP Quick Guide](http://www.uwasa.fi/~jpe/voacap/)_** - by Jari Perkiomaki (Finland).**
- _[Space Environment Center](http://www.sec.noaa.gov/)_** for real-time monitoring/forecasting of ****	****	****	****	****solar & geophysical events.**
- _[Ionosphere Home Page](http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/stp/IONO/ionohome.html)_** from the National Geophysical Data Center.**
- _[Ionospheric](http://elbert.its.bldrdoc.gov/pc_hf/indices.html)__[ indices](http://elbert.its.bldrdoc.gov/pc_hf/indices.html)_** information.**
- _[ITU HF web page](http://www.itu.int/brsoft/terrestial/hf-propagation/index.html)_** contains Rec 705 antenna and other ITU related info.**
**The HFCC ( **_[High Frequency Co-ordination Conference](http://www.hfcc.org/)_** ) informally ****	****	****	****	****	****coordinates short wave broadcasting.**
- _[IBB - International Broadcasting Bureau](http://www.ibb.gov/)_** (VOA, RFE,...)**
- _[ARRL - National Association for Amateur Radio](http://www.arrl.org/)_** – QST.**
- _[NEC Antenna programs](http://www.qsl.net/wb6tpu/swindex.html)_** (4nec2 by Arie interfaces to ITS HF). **

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## Slide 10

- NTIA/ITS 13 April 2004

## Other useful links:

**Join the **_[VOACAP Mailing List](http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/voacap)_**.**
- _[User's Guide](http://elbert.its.bldrdoc.gov/pc_hf/rockwell/)_** - Signal-to-Noise Predictions Using VOACAP ****	****	****	****	****	****	****by George Lane ($65)**
- _[VOACAP Quick Guide](http://www.uwasa.fi/~jpe/voacap/)_** - by Jari Perkiomaki (Finland).**
- _[Space Environment Center](http://www.sec.noaa.gov/)_** for real-time monitoring/forecasting of ****	****	****	****	****solar & geophysical events.**
- _[Ionosphere Home Page](http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/stp/IONO/ionohome.html)_** from the National Geophysical Data Center.**
- _[Ionospheric](http://elbert.its.bldrdoc.gov/pc_hf/indices.html)__[ indices](http://elbert.its.bldrdoc.gov/pc_hf/indices.html)_** information.**
- _[ITU HF web page](http://www.itu.int/brsoft/terrestial/hf-propagation/index.html)_** contains Rec 705 antenna and other ITU related info.**
**The HFCC ( **_[High Frequency Co-ordination Conference](http://www.hfcc.org/)_** ) informally ****	****	****	****	****	****coordinates short wave broadcasting.**
- _[IBB - International Broadcasting Bureau](http://www.ibb.gov/)_** (VOA, RFE,...)**
- _[ARRL - National Association for Amateur Radio](http://www.arrl.org/)_** – QST.**
- _[NEC Antenna programs](http://www.qsl.net/wb6tpu/swindex.html)_** (4nec2 by Arie interfaces to ITS HF). **

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## Slide 12

- NTIA/ITS 13 April 2004

## Other useful links:

**Join the **_[VOACAP Mailing List](http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/voacap)_**.**
- _[User's Guide](http://elbert.its.bldrdoc.gov/pc_hf/rockwell/)_** - Signal-to-Noise Predictions Using VOACAP ****	****	****	****	****	****	****by George Lane ($65)**
- _[VOACAP Quick Guide](http://www.uwasa.fi/~jpe/voacap/)_** - by Jari Perkiomaki (Finland).**
- _[Space Environment Center](http://www.sec.noaa.gov/)_** for real-time monitoring/forecasting of ****	****	****	****	****solar & geophysical events.**
- _[Ionosphere Home Page](http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/stp/IONO/ionohome.html)_** from the National Geophysical Data Center.**
- _[Ionospheric](http://elbert.its.bldrdoc.gov/pc_hf/indices.html)__[ indices](http://elbert.its.bldrdoc.gov/pc_hf/indices.html)_** information.**
- _[ITU HF web page](http://www.itu.int/brsoft/terrestial/hf-propagation/index.html)_** contains Rec 705 antenna and other ITU related info.**
**The HFCC ( **_[High Frequency Co-ordination Conference](http://www.hfcc.org/)_** ) informally ****	****	****	****	****	****coordinates short wave broadcasting.**
- _[IBB - International Broadcasting Bureau](http://www.ibb.gov/)_** (VOA, RFE,...)**
- _[ARRL - National Association for Amateur Radio](http://www.arrl.org/)_** – QST.**
- _[NEC Antenna programs](http://www.qsl.net/wb6tpu/swindex.html)_** (4nec2 by Arie interfaces to ITS HF). **

- NTIA/ITS 13 April 2004

## What SunSpot Number indices should be used.

**NOAA has changed how they put out the Ionospheric indices that are used in the NTIA/ITS HF Propagation Models. This will try to explain what indices to use. **

**The SunSpot Number (SSN) used by these HF prediction programs should be what is called **_[R12 - the Smoothed](http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/stp/IONO/sunspot.html)__[ SunSpot](http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/stp/IONO/sunspot.html)__[ Number](http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/stp/IONO/sunspot.html)_**. **
**NGDC used to have it linked **_[in this table](ftp://ftp.ngdc.noaa.gov/STP/IONOSPHERE/INDICES/indices.txt)_**. **
**That was last updated May 15, 1999. **
**George Lane says to use: **_[ftp://ftp.](ftp://ftp.ngdc.noaa.gov/STP/SOLAR_DATA/SUNSPOT_NUMBERS/sunspot.predict)__[ngdc](ftp://ftp.ngdc.noaa.gov/STP/SOLAR_DATA/SUNSPOT_NUMBERS/sunspot.predict)__[.](ftp://ftp.ngdc.noaa.gov/STP/SOLAR_DATA/SUNSPOT_NUMBERS/sunspot.predict)__[noaa](ftp://ftp.ngdc.noaa.gov/STP/SOLAR_DATA/SUNSPOT_NUMBERS/sunspot.predict)__[.](ftp://ftp.ngdc.noaa.gov/STP/SOLAR_DATA/SUNSPOT_NUMBERS/sunspot.predict)__[gov](ftp://ftp.ngdc.noaa.gov/STP/SOLAR_DATA/SUNSPOT_NUMBERS/sunspot.predict)__[/STP/SOLAR_DATA/SUNSPOT_NUMBERS/sunspot.predict](ftp://ftp.ngdc.noaa.gov/STP/SOLAR_DATA/SUNSPOT_NUMBERS/sunspot.predict)_** for compatibility with VOACAP. **
**SEC also maintains SunSpot data with slightly different numbers under **_[Solar Cycle Progression](http://www.sec.noaa.gov/SolarCycle/)_**. **
**For past values, you must use the **_[Recent Solar Indices](http://www.sec.noaa.gov/ftpdir/weekly/RecentIndices.txt)_** table. **
**The proper column in this table is Smoothed RI **
**For predicted values, you must use the **_[Predicted Indices](http://www.sec.noaa.gov/ftpdir/weekly/Predict.txt)_** table. **
**The proper column in this table is SunSpot Number Predicted **
**You will notice that the Predicted table is about 6 months behind the current date. That is because it takes that long for the smoothed SunSpot Number to become permanent. **
**I questioned someone at SEC as to what was the difference between SEC's and NGDC's sunspot predictions, and **_[here](http://elbert.its.bldrdoc.gov/pc_hf/sec.txt)_** is his response. **
**Note:**** We cannot control the content nor accessibility of the NOAA web pages. **

- NTIA/ITS 13 April 2004

## Other useful links:

**Join the **_[VOACAP Mailing List](http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/voacap)_**.**
- _[User's Guide](http://elbert.its.bldrdoc.gov/pc_hf/rockwell/)_** - Signal-to-Noise Predictions Using VOACAP ****	****	****	****	****	****	****by George Lane ($65)**
**VOACAP Quick Guide - by Jari Perkiomaki (Finland).**
**Space Environment Center for real-time monitoring/forecasting of ****	****	****	****	****solar & geophysical events.**
**Ionosphere Home Page from the National Geophysical Data Center.**
**Ionospheric indices information.**
**ITU HF web page contains Rec 705 antenna and other ITU related info.**
**The HFCC ( High Frequency Co-ordination Conference ) informally ****	****	****	****	****	****coordinates short wave broadcasting.**
**IBB - International Broadcasting Bureau (VOA, RFE,...)**
**ARRL - National Association for Amateur Radio – QST.**
**NEC Antenna programs (4nec2 by Arie interfaces to ITS HF). **

- NTIA/ITS 13 April 2004

## Point-to-Point Data Input

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## Ionospheric Coefficients

- CCIR/Oslo
- URSI88/Australian
- Daily foF2 – interpolated URSI88

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## ICEPAC - Effective SSN

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## Point-to-Point Output

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## Point-to-Point Graph

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## Point-to-Point by Distance

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## Point-to-Point by Time

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## Point-to-Point by Time

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## Area Coverage Data Input

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## Area Coverage Map

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## Combine Multiple Coverages

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## Overlay Multiple Coverages

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## Conclusion

- Free – http://elbert.its.bldrdoc.gov
- Current funding
- Modifications via CRADA
- Future?

- NTIA/ITS 13 April 2004