Microwave relay fading statistics as a function of a terrain clearance factor

Three sources of microwave relay fade statistics are examined to show that their differences may be explained on the basis of ground clearance at midpath. An empirical expression is suggested that combines the three sets of data into one that is useful over a considerable range of ground clearance. This is then used to calculate a microwave link composed of N hops between ground and tethered balloons. It is shown that at the short and long extremes of range, the results match known performance.