[AMRadio] (no subject)

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

On Mon, Jan 30, 2012 at 7:53 AM,  <henry1bean at windstream.net> wrote:
> Todd & Warren, Thanks for the reply, I do really enjoy ham radio and I am very glad That I got into it and I speacially like listening to you AM guys I wish there was more band space for AM. Some times it gets hard to jump into a QSL.

You'll fit right in, Bill. And as far as having more space for AM, you
are allowed to work phone (AM or SSB) anywhere that your license class
allows. There are certain places to avoid like the 75 meter DX window,
but those places are few and far between. There is no specific AM
Window that AM is restricted to, despite what some say: simply areas
of the bands where AM activity has traditionally been found. These
frequencies also tend to be the most crowded and noisy. Spin the dial
and have a look around beyond the usual places.

The best approach for getting started in my view would be to tune
around the bands and get familiar with where the typical activity is
found, day vs. night, and how conditions affect your signals at those
different times. 40 meters for example, has a lot of activity around
7.285-7.295, but also around 7.220 and 7.160 and so on. 40 is more of
a daytime band for the most part with some activity at night, whereas
80 is more of a local band (couple hundred miles) until around sunset
when things start to stretch out.

When all else fails - find a clear frequency and throw out a CQ.
You'll be amazed at how easy it can be to start your own activity
compared to joining some of the over-sized groups where it takes
forever to get a chance to transmit. As Geoff says, some groups use
the roundtable format of taking turns, others run quick break in. Pick
what you prefer or adapt to the group you join and have fun. And above
all - never feel shy about asking questions.

Geoff wrote:
> These guys have been around (mostly) much longer than I have (28
years)

Huh. I always thought you had been licensed far longer than me, Geoff.
I'm coming up on 29 years in March. It's amazing how fast the time has
flown by from when I built my first 40m dipole and put a Yaesu 101EE
on the air!

~ Todd,  KA1KAQ/4