DUH! I do understand that it is mostly the atmospheric conditions! But, I do know that you can take a piece of crap radio and put it on the right antenna and it will smoke a radio costing 100x more connected to a poorly matched piece of crap antenna.
I never said a beam would be everything. did I? I think I'm doing damn good considering where I live, barefoot with a cheeseball 20 dollar whip and a crappy $120.00 box of pretty lights, bells and whistles. Hate to break the news to you but the folks I've talked to using a beam 1. when the going gets tough, they stand a better chance! 2. When your competing with the big station d-bags running 300 whiskeys, it's a beautiful thing to turn the antenna, lessen their impact and direct the energy where you want it to go. Pretty clear choice to me; Beam it is! Doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure that one out!
I can build a Moxon for far less than $30.00 bucks and it would smoke a dipole any day.