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Hello Laurens,
Yes, location seems to be the most important factor. I am living 10 km from the coast and have e.g. a 2200 km unblocked sea path to Jan Mayen.
Regarding Alert, it is just 4000 km away and a single hop I guess. When the band is quiet, I can hear it here at local noon in January. The grey line is than just north of Iceland, about midway between my location and Alert. It is quite easy to hear it here, however the guys in the US have the greatest difficulties. One reason is that most folks live far more south than here in Europe and hence high latitude stations are a problem. The other reason is powerhouse YQ-305, Churchill/Eastern Creek, CAN MB, that dominates the channel. I can often receive both at my sunrise and though only 6 Hz apart, aural single signal copy is no problem.
Regarding ICW on 525 kHz, I have heard it only once and that was on November 7, 2009. At the time LF conditions were truly awesome, with a solar flux of 68!
On an other note the first NDB's from Newfoundland are already coming in here. So it might be a good night receiving for Joe's, VO1NA, signal.
73, Roelof, PA0RDT
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