Almost 100% of the time the long range fliers have nothing in between them and their 5+ miles they fly. It's not like you can fly your signal through a canopy of trees and feel you are flying safely without lost signal. With my DBSMODS long range antenna I could fly CLOSE IN through the above pic as long as the line of signal is on point.When the line of sight is lost the line of signal is now most important and anything that is in the way diminishes signal strength.