GroundWaves was established so that musicians who might not otherwise receive radio airplay have a forum through which they might be heard by a global audience; and to provide listeners with a diverse and unique commercial-free alternative to mainstream radio.
The groundwave, as its name implies, travels along a path close to the earth's surface. How far such a signal goes is dependent on a number of factors, principally transmitter power, operating frequency and earth conductivity. Groundwave propagation is heavily dependent on the frequency, with low frequency signals travelling greater distances. In fact, every thing else being equal, groundwave signals from a station on 550kHz will travel twice as far over land as those radiated by a station on 1500kHz. The earth conductivity is also a very significant factor and it is found that the better the conductivity the further the signal travels. Sandy or rocky soil is the worst terrain whilst sea water is best and in regions such as the Caribbean, where the sea is particularly saline (and therefore more conductive), groundwave reception of stations up to 1000 miles distant is possible. In contrast, a similar signal travelling over rocky terrain would carry only about one quarter of this distance. Groundwave propagation is very stable resulting in consistent reception conditions. It is, however, usually only associated with daytime (although equally present at night) since at night long distant reception is predominantly via the sky wave. Because of its stable daytime behaviour, radio stations usually optimise their aerials to radiate as much of their signal as possible via the groundwave in order to improve coverage.
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