"Kevin Brooks" wrote:

They were initially rather ticked at our stepping on their net
(until I explained where we were transmitting from, which garnered the
incredulous response, "You mean Virginia, as in the STATE?"). Strangely
enough, the next time we hit that frequency (ISTR we were on a ten day
rotation of freqs), we did it again. Not bad for a radio that is supposed to
have a normal max range of twenty or thirty miles!

Brooks


Yes, this happens quite frequently (sorry!) on 'ham radio'.

On one of our popular VHF bands (145. mHz) where many repeaters
live we see it quite often in the spring and fall. Distances of 2
- 3 and sometimes 4 thousand miles is fairly common. It's called
(as Gordon mentioned) 'ducting'. Similar to Radio Waves being
reflected back down to earth by the ionosphere which normally
allows VHF Radio Waves to pass through it and become lost while
at the same time reflecting lower frequency (HF) waves back to
earth.

This is why some frequencies are better at long distances than
others...and why conditions change from day to day...season to
season...
--

-Gord.