Ham Radio General Class Test 2026 – 400 Free Practice Questions to Pass the Exam

Cicket fencing is most commonly associated with HF mobile operations due to the way signal propagation is affected when operating in varying terrain and conditions typical for mobile setups. This phenomenon occurs when a mobile station is in motion, which can lead to rapid fluctuations in signal strength as the signal encounters obstacles, changes in terrain, and different propagation conditions. This can cause the signal to be received at varying levels, like a picket fence, hence the name.

In mobile operations, especially on the HF bands where the characteristics of signal propagation can shift due to the changing environment, picket fencing becomes apparent because the received signal strength can fluctuate significantly over a short period or distance as the vehicle moves. This is particularly relevant in HF communication, where mobile antennas may have limited effectiveness depending on the frequency and the surrounding physical structures.

Other variations like flat fading, frequency modulation, and amplitude modulation refer to different aspects of signal transmission and reception, but they don’t capture the specific challenges and phenomena encountered during mobile operation on HF bands as accurately as picket fencing does.