Turns out that, when sorted in a sensible manner, i.e. according to output (but not taking antenna type into account - some use Yagis and huge rhombics), I end up 26th position, globally, with a simple 1/4 wave antenna with two elevated radials by the lake at 14MHz WSPR.
I really need to set on up by the sea for an extended period. Time to talk to one of those landed gentry, ancestors were friends of William the Conqueror types...
@jmorris With a good environment, it certainly can be.
This is especially true of ultra-low angle propagation, where no horizontal HF Yagi can ever access.
I get a lot of angry pushback from people about results from the beach. The true cause of the hate? They don't have access to the sea.
https://mw1cfnradio.blogspot.com/2021/03/strong-long-path.html
@jmorris Yes, that was done. The difference was less than 1dB. My home QTH was rural, elevated and had a partial view of the sea.
https://mw1cfnradio.blogspot.com/2020/05/noise-of-waves.html
I did loads of experiments on this. Other evidence from that time is in the form of comparisons with other known-to-be-good UK receivers.
The huge potential of coastal locations was highlighted by Les Moxon. Marconi even set up his 1910s VLF stations in coastal and otherwise wet places.