Have you ever wondered about the world’s longest microwave radio link? Microwave radio systems and antenna training are a fascinating subject. One of the technical courses we teach is Microwave Radio System Design and Panning. It’s a radio technology I’ve been interested in and involved with for decades, working in various roles from engineering to President of a microwave antenna system manufacturer. Fascinating would be an understatement in describing the number of articles over the last several years claiming “the world’s longest microwave link.” There is usually a qualifier in these articles that gets left out of the verbal conversation such as “over water,” “to an offshore rig,” “all IP,” or “broadband.” All of these microwave hops are impressive, but they don’t qualify as the world’s longest terrestrial microwave link.

We did some research and perhaps not surprisingly the record for the world’s longest microwave link was a hop commissioned decades ago in 1979. The laws of physics have not changed. This record setting link was 360 km long and crossed the Red Sea over a good part of its path connecting Jebel Ebra, Sudan with Jabal Dakka, Saudi Arabia. This microwave link was deployed by Telettra using the 2 GHz band and clearly some excellent engineering. A 360 km microwave hop is an extraordinary accomplishment. This link, as far as we know, is the true record holder and more than worthy of the title “longest microwave hop in the world.”  That being said, selecting, deploying and commissioning a microwave radio for your system requires a different skill set than reading about a long distance record from extreme heights. If you have a team that needs to learn more about designing, planning, installing and maintaining microwave radio networks, please contact us at Singer Executive Development to learn about our Microwave Radio & Antenna System training classes.