www.astrosurf.com/lombry/qsl-iss-shadow.htm
I havent looked through this in detail yet to see if a contribution can be made withough needing a fairly serious communications reciever, but looks interesting.
"VHF-community could play its role in ET implementation if wants. Integration of ET with onboard equipment poses a certain set of problems to be solved such as electromagnetic compatibility of ET. Particularly the matter is that highly ionized exhaust plumes of ET may scatter RF-signals producing large "dead" zone for communications.
This plasma screening effect should be thoroughly studied before electric thrusters become standard onboard equipment. The investigation will help designers of future electrically propelled spacecrafts to minimize the hazard of communication disruption by ET plasma plumes."
Cheers,
~Al
  