Fred wrote:

Among other places.. I read on the Passport to world band radio site:
http://www.passband.com/

"Location. Signals tend to be strongest in and around Europe, next-strongest
in eastern North America. Elsewhere in the Americas, or in Hawaii or
Australasia, you'll need a receiver that's unusually sensitive to weak
signals.."

The key phrase that jumps out to me is " unusually sensitive to weak
signals" which would seem to me that I am in a bad area for SW and that I
will need a high end "Unusual radio" to actually get anything...


Well, for starters, Passport is talking in rather general terms
there.
It could be read or interpreted to mean: "To hear anything in Kansas,
you'll need a Drake R8b and a 200' antenna". Believe me, it doesn't
mean that, at least that literally. Yes, it is easy to make an argument
that Virginia Beach, VA is a better location for listening than where
you are - basically true, most of the time.
Yes, a better receiver and antenna improves your odds *no matter where
you are*.
But I did some quick math. For purposes of the example, I assumed you
to be smack-dab in the middle of Kansas (the Great Bend/Ellington
area). As the crow
flies, you are 685 miles SW of me. Shortwaves signals travel around the
world easily (12,500 miles, in this example) and beyond that, even. A
third of the loggings I have made, based on the transmitting stations
antenna directionality, were signals I received from the other side of
the world over the North Pole.
Using a vector that travels due west of me, the North/South difference
between us drops to 325 miles with a polar route signal. If such a
signal is readable where I am, odds are *excellent* it's readable where
you are. And then you add "skip" and "prop" which are impossible to
calculate, but really make the hobby interesting! Some nights, a signal
from, say, the Dominican Republic will reach me quite readably, where it
cannot be heard in Georgia (much closer to the D.R.) because of "skip".
There are many other variables, too.

Passports article would also lead one to believe that California is
not a good place for SW DX. *Several* posters to this group get
excellent results in California. Admittedly, these people are using
good receiver and antenna setups,
but with the $125 investment I spoke of earlier, you can still fill a
small book with basic loggings.

You have one other advantage: You are CLOSER (overall, "better") to
the Central and South American stations, some of my favorite DX!

Hope this was some (encouraging) help to you.

Tony


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