There are several hot spots along the Blue Ridge Parkway and along the Outer Banx for listening and talking that seem to be in the ducting mode most of the time because the stations you can hear and talk to are over the horizon from you.
The Parkway pretty much runs the eastern side of the Blue Ridge escarpment, so everything east of there is "downhill". One of many examples is the Lewis Fork Overlook, the first one north of US421 at Deep Gap. Nothing unusual about hearing amateur and public safety stations on VHF, UHF, and high UHF (800 MHz) well into central and eastern NC and SC from there. Most evenings year round you can hear coastal stations if your rig and antenna are in good shape, and on really good days in the spring, summer, and early fall you can consistently talk 2M simplex and even 70 cm simplex as much as 150 - 200 air miles with a roof mounted gain antenna and 25 watts. A Yagi will give you more mileage at less power. I've worked a station outside Elizabethtown, NC from there on 440 MHz sideband simplex with a 9 element Yagi and 15 watts. I've consistently been there and heard Wilmington and New Hanover public safety UHF on a omni antenna in the days when UHF was primary in New Hangover. Even Mt Mitchell isn't as consistent. Imagine the sites your trunking scanner could identify from these locations.
The OBX ducting along the NC and SC coast will amaze you in the early mornings with things like being at Cape Hatteras on the point and working the Mt Mitchell 2M ham repeater, or the Greensboro 145.250/88.5 repeater from North Myrtle Beach.
HF is also pretty healthy from these places when other locations seem to be dead, and 6 and 10 meters are usually good, too. I've consistently heard the NCSHP 42 MHz transmitter on Mt Mitchell while driving along NC 12 on Hatteras Island, and the current one on Clingman's Peak is just about as consistent.
