Same thoughts here. I am an hour from TN and could not hear many of the stations K4BAI was working – John being a good two hours South of downtown. The skip is that short.

The last hour of the contest the D layer is pretty well gone and some combination of ground wave or very weak skip allows working a few of the mobiles on 40, but I usually had to wait until everyone else had made the QSO and be the last one calling. My 40 antenna is not high angle either – making things worse. 80 of course is a different story. What a difference a few MHz makes….

N4GG

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My theory is that (as far as TN is concerned) the farther South you go in the Atlanta area, the better off you are.  I have always had trouble from North of Atlanta, but very often even just inside the perimeter I can hear TN when I am mobile on the County Hunters nets.  It just seems like 40 rarely gets quite that short.  I did manage 4 QSOs on 40, but it was rough going from Sugar HIll..  73 de Greg NM2L