Value chain · CLM-0098
In plain terms
Moving to 5.8 gigahertz helps much less at the mid-latitude radar site measured (Millstone Hill) than at the high-latitude one (Sondrestrom), and by one reasonable measure it is worse there.
The claim as recorded
The advantage of 5.8 GHz over 2.45 GHz against self-focusing is strongly latitude dependent and much smaller at mid-latitude than at high latitude: measured against all conditions the exposure falls from 23.8 to 1.5 per cent at Sondrestrom, a factor of about 16, but only from 11.4 to 4.5 per cent at Millstone Hill, a factor of about 2.5; and among conditions where the instability can occur at all, 5.8 GHz is worse at mid-latitude, 55.8 per cent against 31.4 per cent.
Scope and limits
Rests on four Millstone Hill experiment days. The direction of the effect follows from the algebra and is robust; the exact factors are not. Does not overturn the case for 5.8 GHz, which is also supported by the ohmic-loss ratio of 5.6 in CLM-0087 and by the independent avian and atmospheric arguments.
What it assumes
a 25 km growth length at both frequencies, which the source states as approximate and does not vary with frequency
Where it comes from
This is the project's own working, shown in full:
Identical code over both datasets. The mechanism is that the domain condition admits only denser plasma at higher frequency, requiring Ne above 5.49e11 per cubic metre at 5.8 GHz against 2.32e11 at 2.45 GHz, and threshold power falls as density cubed. Mid-latitude has the denser F2 layer, with a measured maximum of 7.30e12 against Sondrestrom's 1.85e12, so more of its in-domain points sit at high density where the threshold is low. Median in-domain density is 3.40e11 at 2.45 GHz against 1.255e12 at 5.8 GHz, a ratio of 3.69, which cubed is 50.3 against the frequency term's factor of 13.3, and 13.3 over 50.3 predicts a median ratio of 0.264 against 0.206 observed.
Related records
- Answers question
- QST-009 not published in this release
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-0098
CLM-0098, Energy Aperture, as of 2026-09.
Connected records
Other published records linked to this one. A list, not a judgement.
- Also from SRC-119
- CLM-0095My earlier duty-cycle figures were percentages of a filtered subset, not of all measured conditions, but were written as though they were...
- Also from SRC-120
- CLM-0096Using mid-latitude radar measurements rather than sub-auroral ones, a 230 watt per square metre beam is over the self-focusing threshold in...