Hi Guy,
You raise two points of interest.
One is that it is a fairly regular feature of S. African DXing for us to get
N. American MW stations, but it seems very difficult indeed for U.S. MW
DXer's to get the 100 Kw powerhouse omnidirectional TX's that we have here
in S. Africa in the U.S.A. Even Mark Connelly on the East coast and a
Canadian DXer up in Nova Scotia seem to have great difficulty.

The Canadian fellow achieved what for me must be the ultimate DX catch in
Nova Scotia - he claims to have got our 100 Kw R. 702. Now this TX has a
very effective antenna system beamed only to the South West, so the signal
to him could only have been long path - an astounding 17,000 miles away. If
you go just North of the 702 TX you will get BBC on 702 from Europe. Since
this path lies near Grayland, you might like to try for that when conditions
are next good???

Also, I have a good friend in France who DX's NDB beacons on LW and he has
also commented that European DXer's seem to get more N. American catches
than Americans getting Europe. Go figure.......

Second, your experience is that your best most exotic DX is caught in mid
winter. My experience down here is that the equinox - around 21st March and
21st September have given me markedly better results than any other time.
That applies both to my home QTH and various DXpeditions.

There are some other anomalies too - Although getting U.S. East coast and
Brazil here are fairly common, getting Mexico and Central America is so rare
as to be an occasion to break out a bottle of champagne if you ever get
one..... Also, even though Brazilian catches are common here, right down to
the very South of the country, Argentina, right next door, hardly ever comes
in. I really have no logical explanation for this.

best of 73's
de John Plimmer, Montagu, Western Cape Province, South Africa

Ya wanna talk tough DX targets from my location? All of Latin America (not
really a region of interest for me though) and Africa (which I'd love to
hear more often). African DX is loads of fun on morning longpath, with a
southwest Beverage antenna at the coast, around local sunrise. I've had
the
strongest African signals on the morning longpath. BTW, mid-winter is best
for this.

73,

Guy