Of course I understand that while propagation characteristics remain the same worldwide, the target areas vary with location. It's like the disclaimer in car commercials, "Your actual mileage may vary." Certainly, only over windless, flat terrain will it be comparable to what they got with a dynamometer and only the engine. So what do your commercials say, kilometreage? (;->)

Back in West Creek the noise floor was zero between the coastal salt marsh and the Pine Barrens so called because they're barren for farming except for berries. That's why RCA chose the location for WSC, their coastal CW station. It had a 300ft (91M) base loaded mast for LF and a bunch of HF wire antennas out in the salt marsh fed by outdoor tuners near the building and open wire ladder line feeders. After the site was decommissioned it sat unused for years until the Tuckerton Wireless Amateur Radio Club leased it and grounded the mast using it for antenna mounts. If you hear W2WSC it's them. They must have fun battling the New Jersey state bird, giant mosquitoes that make the marsh their home. They're so large they carry victims to their nests to feed their young.

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I have known many of the AM Gangstas that visit AM Fone http://amfone.net/Amforum/index.php for years and have experienced their troubles. For some odd reason I've not heard AM below 40M although it may be used anywhere. On average the noise floor on 40 is low until the Area 1 broadcasters start rolling in, but on 75 and 160 it's a different story. Living in a rural area like West Creek is a ham's dream QTH where the noise floor depends solely on the ham in question, but in a suburb it's bad, and in a city it's brutal. There you have a double whammy, S9 noise AND no room for a decent antenna system. Under the average conditions, if you don't have a "strapping" signal you won't be heard. John N8YX says "Everyone wants to be an AM Gangsta until it's time to start doing AM Gangsta shit." that means Gangsta shit is a transmitter with 200W output or better, ideally 600-1500W, your 100W rice burner is one of those "piss weakers" down in the mud. Gone are the days when my Gangstaized Johnson Ranger feeding a 1/2 wave inverted L was heard all over the Northeast on 3885. While West Creek is Hog Heaven for AM Gangstas, when I set up shack in Point Pleasant Beach I was shocked by RFI blanketing the spectrum. While dismayed I wasn't surprised living where I could reach out my window and shake hands with the guy next door reaching out HIS window. That is a fire hazard I wasn't happy with either. When surrounded by RFI generators you're limited to bands above 30MHz, but if you're served by a leaky cable TV system you're totally screwed...........