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...

@MW1CFN very nice! Sounds like an efficient setup for reaching all skip angles in all directions.

@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

@MW1CFN would be interesting to measure the background noise at each location, too.

@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.

@MW1CFN you have an amazingly quiet QTH! I get S9 noise on many HF bands and I'm often shocked to see ~zero noise when portable. Could be I need better grounding & setup, too.

@jmorris Yes, that was a good place, but where I am now is nowhere near as good. Big solar farms went up near my old QTH after we left and an even bigger one is now approved there.

TBH, it's a mug's game to invest too much in a home station these days. I always preferred /p anyway because the environment gives hugely more advantage than a large HF Yagi and freedom to escape local RFI.

@jmorris Also, maybe try a magnetic loop. I have many and despite having had Yagis and big wires, loops remain magical and being such high-Q antennas, usually lead to significantly lower noise levels.

Ignore those who say they're inefficient (even the calculators are way off). I've done the studies with bias-free WSPR and they are wrong.

@MW1CFN yes, indeed, it's on my list of things to try. A couple of years ago I noticed a station in NZ was able to copy some very weak signals from me and it turned out they were using a Wellbrook receiving loop. By the time I wanted to then buy one, they went out of business and I just missed their final sale. I do need to be able to transmit, so not quite the end of the world.

Loops seem to be a reasonable option for vehicle mounted HF as well. They may look ungainly but so does everything if you want to cover 3-30 MHz.

@jmorris For RX-only (and never having switched on when transmitting anywhere near it, as it will be destroyed, even at QRP), I heartily recommend the WellGood amplifier by George Smart.

https://www.george-smart.co.uk/projects/wellgood-loop/

I've a couple of these and they are very good.

But I do advise you add a 'power-on' LED to any enclosure you may add, to warn against transmitting on another set-up.

Magloops (TX/RX) easily fit in a car, so can be plonked on a beach or field easily; roof mounting not required.

@MW1CFN Thanks, some great info there!