In radio propagation, skip is when a radio signal is reflected or refracted by the atmosphere or ionosphere, and returns to Earth in an unexpectedly far-away place. This phenemon happens often with AM radio, enabling listeners to hear broadcasts across long distances. CB radio (27 megahertz) was intended not to skip, but often it does skip. Skip becomes stronger and weaker according to an 11 year solar cycle and we are currently at the bottom of that cycle, as of 2006. Occasionally (sometimes when meteor showers make ionized trails in the atmosphere), television signals skip. Some radio enthusiasts look for such signals and call them DX-TV. Skip is not a term defined as above in Federal Standard 1037C. Skip distance and skip zone are defined.
- Skip distance: For a fixed frequency, the least distance between point of transmission and the point of reception.
- Skip zone: Skip zone is the distance between point of no reception and the first point of reception in the skip distance. For example if receiving a signal in Tucson Arizona from Sacramento California via "skip", the closest station to Sacramento in Tucson would mark the skip distance and begin the skip zone. The station furthest from that station that could hear Sacramento would end the skip zone as has occurred during meteor showers.
