hop

An intermediate stop on the path along which mail is routed when the sender's server and recipient's server are not directly connected.

The excursion of a radio wave from the Earth to the ionosphere and back to the Earth. Note: The number of hops is synonymous with the number of reflections from the ionosphere. 2. A waveform transmitted for the duration of each relocation of the carrier frequency of a frequency-hopped system. 3. To modify a modulated waveform with constant center frequency so that it frequency hops. 4. An intermediate network connection consisting of a leg from one router to another router and over which a packet travels to reach its destination. Note: Hops can be traced using ping or other trace utilities.