Topband: strange conditions

[Joe Giacobello]

PACER99 at aol.com wrote:
> N7RT who is only 100 miles north of me reported hearing only one European  
> station. I worked 30.
>   

I am a newcomer to 160M this season and, admittedly, am not using low 
noise, directional antennas on receive, but I have observed what Larry 
has described here.  Often I have heard other stations 100-200 miles 
away from me hearing and working DX that I can't even copy via ESP.  Is 
this typical for 160M?  In other words, are signals often received only 
within a narrow geographic window?

73, Joe
K2XX