Analysis of tropospheric radio refractive conditions in Karachi, Pakistan

The effective earth radius factor (k-factor) is an important parameter in the radio propagation and radio applications. In average atmospheric conditions, the four third (4/3) value of median k-factor is used for gross planning. However, it is important to use the actual predicted value determined from local meteorological data, whenever available. There is a lack of research work on variation of radio refractivity gradient and k-factor in Pakistan. This work presents the statistics of k-factor, obtained from utilizing atmospheric parameters at different altitudes above sea level, based on radiosonde data provided by BADC. A considerable difference has been observed between previous study and these results, which means that accurate determination of these values is necessary, which requires local, current weather data.