An Improved Prediction Method of MF Skywave Propagation for Medium and Long-Range Broadcasting Services

Medium-frequency (MF) is widely used in medium and long-range broadcasting and other scenarios such as navigation, and emergency communication, especially when other radio transmission methods are unavailable, predicting MF skywave propagation is crucial. Therefore, to improve the prediction accuracy of MF skywave propagation, we proposed an improved method based on the ITU-R P.1147 method, addressing the following aspects: (1) By redefining the solar flux factor and analyzing MF skywave field strength of 7 circuits in Europe and 9 circuits in North America, an accuracy improvement of 34.69% is achieved compared to the ITU-R P.1147 method; (2) By replacing the dipole geomagnetic latitude with the corrected dipole geomagnetic latitude and combining the basic loss coefficient with an improved ionospheric absorption factor and other relevant loss factors, an accuracy improvement of 42.78% is further achieved. Taken together, these improvements enable the proposed method to achieve a prediction accuracy improvement of 60.78% over the ITU-R P.1147 method, facilitating enhanced accuracy in MF skywave propagation predictions.