Yeah he gets tropo all the time.
http://essexradar.co.uk:1085/tar1090
http://essexradar.co.uk:1085/graphs1090/
Beside on a mountain or on some tall mast, you don’t get terrain restrictions much better than that receiver 
Sea will compared to land much more often create tropo ducting i believe.
Some of the unbelievable ground station screenshots 400 nmi away are from that receiver (Nice bit of tropo over the UK and Europe today)
Those aircraft are 2000 ft or below and some of them are 175 nmi away, that’s only possible so far away with ducting.
