Tropospheric ducting is a thing... [1]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropospheric_propagation

Sure, but is that a thing you'd be able to (and want to) do using a small handheld radio?

It's not like HF where ionospheric reflections are pretty much the biggest appeal of the band.

Plenty of use-cases, unsure what you're arguing against.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmNo1TX1E3Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hn7_CZurV7Y

https://www.reddit.com/r/amateurradio/comments/jcvv5g/did_so...

Who's arguing?

I was under the impression UHF/VHF is mostly used for line-of-sight communications, unlike HF, and NLOS usually needs much stronger transmitters than would be practicable in a handheld radio.

Curious to learn about other applications.

> […] and NLOS usually needs much stronger transmitters than would be practicable in a handheld radio.

While not typically thought of as a "handheld radio", Elecraft's KX-line are pretty compact and portable:

* https://elecraft.com/collections/kx-line/products/kx2-ssb-cw...

* https://elecraft.com/collections/kx-line/products/kx3-all-mo...

The KX3 can run on eight AA batteries.

There are people who use SSB on VHF to talk over long distances. There is always some bending and they can get weak signal. On rare times, troposphere ducting means they can reach hundreds of miles.

This wouldn't be useful for that since, like most handhelds, it doesn't have SSB, just FM.