Given the weather at the moment, I remember, as a kid, being astounded when I threw a paper airplane on a hot summers-day that didn't immediately come back down to earth like normal, but soared and soared and soared for minutes before I lost it. It blew my little kid mind.
It's funny, it's kind of similar to walkie talkie transmissions in the summer. They can get tunneled through the troposphere and suddenly you are talking to people you never expected to contact.
A couple summers ago I was out in my yard, called out randomly on my little 5W handheld, and the signal went just over 8 miles through flat, forested city neighborhoods into the back end of a guy's directional antenna on his house. We had a good laugh at that. I've run tests in the neighborhood and I'm usually lucky to get out a single mile.
During the same season I also like that I can pick up Indian music from an FM radio station 150+ miles south of me (KSJO), using a small pocket radio. Searching around for those signals is also kind of like fishing.
Anyway. I think it's pretty neat how different seasonal conditions change the dynamics of a hobby interest or a science.
