[Elecraft] Thinking out loud again...

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

   With someone on the moon? Or should the K2 be accompanied by a
vhf/uhf transverter? Hf just won't get down through the ionosphere.

   73, Eddi ._._.
-----------------------------------------

Since when? 

Spunik was on HF, among others. Sputnik, especially, put a wonderfully
loud signal onto the surface even with its tiny little transmitter.

If HF wouldn't pass through the ionosphere we wouldn't have to concern
ourselves about a "Maximum Useable Frequency" (MUF) above which the
ionosphere  no longer refracts HF signals enough to be returned to the
earth. 

Going in the other direction - space to earth - the refraction has quite
a different effect and signals well below the MUF are quite audible on
the surface all the way down to those frequencies where atmospheric
absorption  becomes a factor. That's typically below 7 MHz in the
daytime and it's the reason we don't do much "skip" communications on
80, 160 (or hear DX on the AM Broadcast Band) in daylight hours. 

Ron AC7AC
K2 # 1289