Estimating the Performance of Error-Correcting Codes on the HF Channel

A simple procedure for evaluating the performance of various types of error-correcting codes is presented. First, the HF channel is modeled for error-rate calculations as a time-varying binary symmetric channel. Second, as an example of this procedure, the model is applied to data collected on a particular midtatitude HF channel with a 1200 bit/s frequency-shift keyed modem to determine the probability of error for a number of interleaved random-error-correcting block codes.