Radio Range.....the never-ending mystery of magnetism ! ! !

   Probably the question I most often receive is - "How much range does that radio have?"   
Wow, now that's a good question and an even more difficult answer.
   Radio range is relative to a lot of laws in physics, and primarily the laws of magnetism.   Every time a radio amplifier excites or transmits into a resonant antenna system it basically causes a magnetic field of sorts to be created around and radiated from the antenna.   When another antenna, that is basically tuned or is resonant to the same frequency receives, or gets inducted by, that transmitted radio signal it will deliver a small voltage signal to the receiver to which it's attached.   Whew!   That's a mouthful of explanation when trying not to go so deep that engineering philosophies are explored.
   Ok...in lay-mans terms, radio range is directly relative to the power of the transmitter and to the magnetic field strength induced into a receiving antenna/radio system.   Of course, physical barriers can get into this line-of-sight path that can reduce or totally eliminate the magnetic signal from reaching the receiving antenna, there by reducing range.
   So, what's a practical definition of radio range?   Most often in our business of higher frequencies it is generally line of sight transmission.   Of course lower frequencies will follow the curvature of the earth better and generally go farther, but the higher in frequency you go, the more line-of-sight you become.   Incidentally, the higher in frequency the more capability the frequency has for bandwidth.....a topic for future exploration.
   Let me know your questions or experiences you may have had with radio range.