That's great Tom. "Ham radio" - What? VHF? UHF? Again, you're talking out your a** acting like an expert in an area you have no expertise in.
I'm a licensed operator (B license). I don't know what's included in your licenses "over there" but at least here, they require you to know about electronics as well.
Anyway, that license gives me access to broadcast and receive @ 100 W. Though for all my balloon launches, I've used the UHF 70 cm band (~434.650 Mhz) @ 10 mW. It's pretty much as limited by line of sight as it gets.
I repeat, It's pretty much as limited by line of sight as it gets.
Incorrect. It is possible for HAM receivers to hear stations from hundreds or thousands of miles away on the AM band.
Incorrect? You were trying to enhance the likelihood of the Earth being flat by providing an example (read: generalizing) about amateur radio bands. It only takes one example to dismiss your claim, and that is what I gave you.
NB-UHF (70cm) is as line of sight as it gets. You rate the distance between a transmitter and a receiver to be about 500m because it takes nothing to disrupt the signal. However, if you send the transmitter upwards, there's no problem receiving over a distance of +40km. Besides, you cant just generalize AM frequencies like that. Low Frequency AM (300khz - 3MHz) have a wavelength range from 100-1000 meters. It's their "bouncing" properties, diffraction and their insensitive nature to be disrupted that allows receivers to decode a signal even with antennas below the horizon.
I have also worked in the fields of radio communication , radar and computer systems and complexes. I also have held an amateur radio license for over 50 years and commercial radio licenses in my line of work in the military , civil service and private industry. For examples the characterists of each of the bands of frequencies is vastly different. For instance the amateur radio 75 meter band (3.5-4.0 MHZ) and the 2 meter band (144-148 MHZ) are used for different purposes.
The examples I gave were simply facts of life that they were line of sight and limited by the curvature of the earth by the nature of their frequencies of operation.
It is also a simple fact of life that the earth is a globe and not some flat disc. LOL
I am sure that with all his knowledge and expertise, Tom Bishop should have no diifficulty in passing the examinations for a First Class Commercial Radio License or an Amateur Radio Extra Class License.
How about it , Tom , get your "ticket" ....We could have a lively round table QSO and chew the rag on 20 meters. You could even start "The Flat Earth Net" !
Contact the ARRL for the wonderful possibilities of ham radio !