The East Coast Anomaly

It's real! But what is it?

There is definitely something happening with propagation at this location. It's a kind of blockage, and a very localised one. It doesn't seem to tie in with propagational effects and happens randomly, lasting from just a few days to a few weeks. Obviously, it's an effect of propagation which I cannot pin down to anything specific, but it does seem to be quite local because other DXers 100km away can be hearing plenty of distant DX while I am not. It occurs mostly around the winter months. It starts very suddenly, in a day, and can disappear in a day, then the DX floods in again. What on earth can it be?

Furthermore, in the event of a solar-related disturbance where North American DX takes a battering, it always takes a few days longer for the east coast to recover. The east coast has proven to be an unusual location when it comes to medium wave propagation, but it can also be surprisingly good and has exceeded my expectations.

There's no doubt that North American reception generally improves the further north and west you travel in the UK. The west coast of Wales, England and Scotland tend to enjoy more reliable propagation across the Atlantic. The east coast tends to enjoy more reliable reception from East Asia. Southern parts of the UK tend to fare better to South America and the African continent, but this can still vary with the time of year and propagational variations, the greyline, etc. Yet, at times, North American reception has really surprised me, producing west coast USA and Canadian reception and many 1kW US graveyarders from as far west as Michigan and Texas, some of which haven't appeared in the UK All-Time MW DX Log. I also received 4QD Emerald, Australia, on 1548 kHz. here on October 7th 2025 when DXers in Scotland weren't able to receive it. In this instance it was all about the greyline, which happened to favour my location. So it really is all to play for when it comes to medium wave DXing, wherever you are in the UK.

So it's not all bad, as you can see from the above. There may be pros and cons to living anywhere in the UK when it comes to propagation, but the east coast has really openened my eyes. I now have three Australians in my medium wave log, numerous west coast US and Canadian stations, 1kW stations from East Asia in the order of almost 10,000km away and one of my Australians was only 2kW! 6EL in Metricup, Western Australia on 1494 kHz. at at 14564 km.

The wonders of propagation!