John,

Yes, know what you mean. I've just spent two weeks in Fiji. I took a Sony
ICF-SW55 portable and 20 feet of wire which I put up inside a bungalow. The
little bungalow was about 10 metres from the water's edge.

I've done this before several times. It is incredible what you can hear.
Mainly, because of what you CAN'T hear - namely all the electrical static
and noise pollution of living in a city! It's like an astronomer escaping to
the desert with a telescope - seems like there's many more stars than usual.

On a clear day, you can hear for ever! And sometimes the signals you get are
very weak. But also very audible because there is simply NO noise.

Under conditions like these, a simple portable radio and piece of wire will
out-perform many a city-based high-end receiver setup.

Mark.
Auckland
New Zealand.