I'm not in the bay area,(central Texas) but they are generaly pretty loud here on 20m, about like Ducie was.
The pileups are quite a bit more...........bigger though. 40m and 20m I haven't had any luck getting through the pile yet, but it isn't because their signal isn't strong.
I got them om 80 ssb from my driveway in the pickup, yesterday morning, about 1300. They weren't too strong then, but they changed their listen freq and I only had to repeat my call 3-4 times.
15m ssb driving through Waco yesterday, around 2100, took a few calls, but it beats listening to the
stereo. They were a bit over s-9.
17m ssb yesterday around 1600, not extremely loud, but good copy, didn't have to call too long.
I've managed to work them 3 times running 100w and dipoles at 26 ft and a vertical at the same height at home, 100w and a HI-Q 5/160 on the pickup, so I'm not complaining.
I hope to work them on 40m and 20m when the pile slows down some. I haven't heard them on 160m or 10m.