Jim Brown wrote: > Is the big mountain behind it reflecting the signal over the pass to the > south west?
It's certainly possible. Big mountains make great VHF reflectors. I can often work stations to the north or east of my location on 2m FM simplex or SSB with stronger signals if we both point antennas at Mt Katahdin (which is generally north of all stations involved) than if we have beams pointed at each other... especially if the station is in a valley. This is true even when the reflected path off the mountain may be much longer than the direct path between stations. Also don't forget about knife edge diffraction of VHF signals over a mountain. I don't have a lot of personal experience here, but in theory I believe this works best if the mountain or ridge has a sharp rocky peak. 73, Paul N1BUG
