[AMRadio] Is AM a special case, or is it "just another mode"?

[Bry Carling]

I am about to unmarginalize a.m. just a little bit by getting back on the air with a nice DX 60 B.

 Please listen out for my PW signal this weekend. I am looking for an amplifier if anybody knows of one suitable.

AF4K Bry

edwmullin at aol.com wrote:
>I have always been of the mind that AM was as valid a mode as SSB,
>Digital, or CW.?? It should NOT be a 'specialty" or LEGACY mode.? That
>path leads to marginalization and extinction. 
>
>Besides, from what I can here on the bands, bandwidth isn't going to be
>an issue on HF, there just won't be enough ops to take up that much
>space! 
>
> 
>
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Donald Chester <k4kyv at charter.net>
>To: amradio <amradio at mailman.qth.net>
>Sent: Wed, Jul 31, 2013 5:08 pm
>Subject: [AMRadio] Is AM a special case, or is it "just another mode"?
>
> 
> 
> 
>A debate has flared up in some ham radio discussion circles, triggered
>by a 
>QST editorial, whether AM should be regarded as a "legacy" or 
>"speciality" 
>mode, or if it's "just another mode", nothing more than one more button
>to 
>push on a transceiver. If it's the latter, then what is the purpose of
>these 
>AM websites and mailing  lists in the first place? Why not just stay
>with 
>e-Ham and QRZ.com?  This discussion has not been heard on the air and 
>remains largely amongst what I like to call "cyber hams" whose presence
>is 
>visible on the internet, but whom you rarely if ever hear on the radio.
>
> 
>My take on the issue is that we can't afford to be "special" or 
>"exceptional" in the sense that AM privileges are granted only in a 
>footnote, permitting the mode to exist as an "exception" to the general
>
>rules, as was proposed under the now-defunct ARRL bandwidth petition,
>and 
>presently listed in the non-binding IARU Band Plans. Were that the
>case, AM 
>could easily be eliminated altogether with the stroke of a pen or  the
>click 
>of a mouse, by simply erasing the footnote. AM privileges must remain
>firmly 
>embedded in the FCC rules as one of the mainstream modes of operation.
>But 
>to those of us who operate AM, there is more to the mode than just
>another 
>button to push on a radio. The present day AM community includes
>probably 
>one of the  last remaining vestiges of what has existed for close to a 
>century as genuine amateur radio. Amateur radio is more than just 
>"communications"  that we could just as easily carry out using a cell
>phone. 
> 
>Equally disconcerting is the premise that "we must adapt to the 21st 
>century", a buzz-word I see of late whenever a topic like bandwidth 
>limitation, or plastic radios/appliance operation vs.
>home-building/vintage 
>AM comes up for discussion. In reality, adapting to the 21st century is
>a 
>strong argument AGAINST bandwidth limitation, since congestion on HF
>has 
>clearly decreased over the past 15 years or so, to the point that it's 
>largely a non-issue to-day, despite the inflated numbers of licensees
>in the 
>FCC data base. As to-day's high school kid would put it, "that
>bandwidth 
>obsession is SOooo twentieth century". 
> 
>The QST editorial can be viewed at 
>http://www.arrl.org/files/file/QST/This%20Month%20in%20QST/September%202013/
>
>ItSeemsToUs.pdf  The trigger mechanism was the reference to the
>infamous 
>bandwidth Docket 20777, which as originally proposed would have
>eliminated 
>AM on all amateur frequencies below 28.5 mc/s. 
> 
>Don k4kyv 
> 
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