Steve, I congratulate you on getting RRI Fak Fak - I'm sure it doesn't come
in everyday in Holland Michigan.
Okay, I have not seen Fak Fak logged recently in the U.S. but have seen
several logs for RRI Serui, hence my comment.
Also, Guy Atkins in Puyallup, an extremely experienced DXer did not log Fak
Fak alongside his Serui log, although he was sure to have tried for it.

You have mentioned befo
I don't think the mountains have a lot to do with it.
but I beg to differ with your opinion. Here in Montagu, my QTH is surrounded
by high mountains and long distance DX comes in very rarely compared with
say a coastal site or a location on a flat plain. I'm not saying it NEVER
comes in, because, of course, my logs show that it does, but that is
occasionally. OTOH if I go on a DXpedition to the coast, then the very long
distance DX come's in everyday very easily.

It has also been written about in professional radio books and by
experienced DXers that long distance DX is very "low angle", which confirms
my own experience that high hills and/or mountains blocks out some of the
exotic long distance DX signals.

I have been on very many DXpeditions to a wide variety of locations and have
formed the opinion that better DX results are obtained if you are in a
"bowl" with its opening out towards the path of the TX site you are trying
for. This is even more enhanced at the coast if you are in a bay backed by
hills or mountains, and the mouth of the bay opens out towards your intended
target area. Magical results can be obtained under those circumstances.

Lastly, I receive more far distant DX from areas that have an open path to
my QTH, whereas getting Peru from over the Andes is a very rare occurrence.
Hence my opinion that mountains block long distance low angle DX signals.

--
John Plimmer, Montagu, Western Cape Province, South Africa
South 33 d 47 m 540 s, East 20 d 07 m 541 s.
RX Drake R8B, SW8
BW XCR 30, Braun T1000, Sangean 818 & 803A.
Hallicrafters SX-100, Eddystone 940
GE circa 50's radiogram
Antenna's RF Systems DX 1 Pro, Datong AD-270
Kiwa MW Loop

"dxAce" wrote in message
...

dxAce wrote:

John Plimmer wrote:

OTOH I received RRI Fak Fak also at 2100 utc booming in quite clear
with
excellent ID's on 4790 Khz. According to my theory Fak Fak is
located on a
large bay with its outlook pointing directly to South Africa and
mountains
behind the TX favouring reception in my area. This is also confirmed
by the
fact that the signal is so strong here that it gives the impression
that the
TX power is much more than the listed 1 Kw, but bear in mind that it
is not
received in the U.S. at all.

Why would you say Fak Fak is not received in the U.S. at all? It is
reported
here from time to time.

In fact, I believe it is them that I have here at 1200 on 4789.95 or so.

That should have been 1100.



I don't think the mountains have a lot to do with it.

dxAce