Not VHF AM but military VHF FM around 50 MHz once picked up a signal from Puckapunyal in Victoria from Lancelin in WA. Low powered manpack radios.
While training with the Army at Pucka we were told of them receiving PRC-25 transmits from Vietnam during the hostilities. The PRC-25 operated in the high HF/low VHF frequency band using frequency modulation (FM), it had a maximum range, using full power and its standard antenna, of approximately 5mi/8km, depending on terrain conditions. Nominal transmit power was 1.5 to 2 watts but it commonly produced four.
Personally heard aircraft making taxi calls at Sale while seated in an office at Essendon.
Military aircraft use the ducting phenomena to avoid radar detection at times. Similar to subs avoiding sonar detection. A Navy ship nav reported radar painting New Zealand during exercises off the coast of Jervis Bay.
Radar Basics in particular page
Radar Basics - Anomalous Propagation of Electromagnetic Waves