Comparison of different methods for the prediction of the field strength in the VHF range

A number of prediction methods have been proposed in the literature in recent years. By using topographical data from a terrain data bank, these methods should lead to a more accurate prediction of the field strength in irregular terrain. The prediction accuracy of these methods has been examined by comparing the field strengths they yield to those experimentally determined at VHF in the coverage area of the transmitter Feldberg/Schwarzwald. Also, the prediction according to CCIR Rec. 370-4, [1], which takes topography into account only by statistical parameters, was included in the comparison. The substantial elements of the methods will be summarized and the results of the comparison will be discussed.