You know I have noted the same thing. I have always had the best luck
ocean side and not in the mountains. But figured just that I picked the
wrong days. Seems to work the same for the tropical band as well.
Could be mistaken however as conditions for the days selected for mountain top
dxing might have been poor for the day. I have only ever been to the ocean
once and not great African reception in the evening on the tropical bands.
I have heard guys going to the Carribean and having very poor reception of South
American stations. I personally have not done this, yet.
Just recently I have tried DXing from high up in
Alpine regions without much success. I'm just wondering whether anybody
else has made observations from Dxing in the hills compared to Sea level. It
may have been conditions but I'm just wondering if I'm wasting my
time.
Does Dxing higher up have any different
effects?
I've always been of the opinion that listening close to
the ocean was by far and away the best place to Dx from. Nothing has really
changed my mind about this.
Last night I drove to a mountain location and
put out 400m along a ridge. The only hassle about doing this was that the
beverage height was not constant.. It was up and down quite a bit and weaved
in places. However I feel propagation conditions were the main reason for not
hearing very much on MW.
I'm a bit of a stickler for straight bevs.. Most of
my really good dx has been heard on antenna systems that were straight
and the same height.. However some good dx has come in on weaving snakes.
Again it might have been good conditions - pity it's not practical to compare
a straight and weaving bev at various heights and twists.
Any thoughts on Dxing at altitude?
73
David Onley
Melbourne, Australia