[TowerTalk] ground and conductivity

[Tom Rauch]

> If fresh water is bad then how come dx'ing is better when
water table is
> high vs low water table?  One place I lived I had a water
table
> indicator in the well.  Only noticed because indicator was
on wall
> behind radios.

For the very same reason cleaning and waxing causes my car
to run better, my wipers play along with the beat of a song,
and turn signals flash in order.

DX HF communications is governed by the ionosphere, not by
local water tables and not by the cycle of the moon. The
skin depth is only a few feet, so all the stories we hear
about water tables, underground lakes, and copper deposits
making a good location are nonsense. Moist soil near the
surface is better than very dry soil, but the change in our
signals is pretty small. This is especially true with
horizontal antennas.

Any "good DX" link we see to anything other than the
ionosphere is psychosomatic, just like the synchronicity of
wipers and music.

73 Tom