Ken, Don F has been running the last few days with his home built ferrites, and hinted to me he sort of liked their overall performance. I'm running the 120mm Kit ferrites, as you ordered, and detect up to 2500 miles under good conditions. It takes 4 stations to detect and register on this network, so three others have to register. I may detect it, but if 3 others also aren't involved it doesn't show as a stroke. This is truly a team effort! And I think that's part of the fun. It's fun to see how far you can see, but it makes you cheer on the other guys and gals also. For me, the ferrites are adequate, for now, although I did build flats... they had so much gain I couldn't figure out how the station worked! I think several of us would suggest starting with ferrites, although John S in Arkansas, and others, iare doing fine with loops. I think distance, as far as the net is concerned, isn't the main issue. But for the 'Look what I made' is a cool feeling when you register on strikes in South America!