Maybe the grease?
I always wonder.. EMF does strange things…
In the 70’s I was fixing a police repeater in W. Texas… On top of a mountain, I heard an amateur radio call on 2m (~145mHz). These frequencies are normally line of sight.
His was a 6 call indicating a California origin. When I asked what he’s doing in Texas, he replied he was on Mulholland Drive in S. California. The whole contact was less than 5 minutes… then he was gone. The QSO covered over a 1000 miles from a 2W hand held radio.
This video of a 1064nM fiber running at 1kW for removing rust, check out the eye protection.
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Similar story here. On a CB radio sitting in the workplace parking lot about 15 miles from Louisville, KY. Heard guy talking, asked him where he was. He said Louisville. Then he mentioned something about snow. WTF??? No snow here in KY I told him. He said he was in Louisville, CO. Two 5w mobiles 1125 miles, but you win with 2watts. 
Yeah, people are cheap to replace in most other countries.
10 meters (~27mHz) is usually on or off.
There are 10 meter beacons that transmit and combined with receiver data, their information is used for find the maximum usable HF frequencies.
In S. Texas, I made an early contact on 10 meters into the Soviet Union above the black sea, when I was just a novice running ~5W.
A lot of times, this sync’s up to the sunspot cycle peaks.
Definitely can do strange things.
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