[AMRadio] AM Presentation

[Donald Chester]

>>From: "Todd, KA1KAQ" <ka1kaq at gmail.com>
I think more of what Pete is saying is not to promote AM as some type
of 'specialty' mode. We had a somewhat known AMer who did that for years,
calling it a 'Legacy' mode, or promoting it as a 'specialty', like we were
some kind of fine wine with snob appeal. The problem with this approach is
(and was proven with the bandwidth petition) that it makes it easier to
start moving AM out. Once it becomes an exception, it's easier to get rid
of. In that sense, we want to be seen as just another of the many approved
and utilized modes.>>>

Please don't confuse apples with oranges.

AM **was** just another mode, along with CW, NBFM, RTTY as well SSB when the
latter first appeared on the scene following WWII. What made AM an
"exception" was the orchestrated effort that began in the mid to late 50s by
ARRL, the other major amateur publications like CQ and 73 magazines, and
even the FCC,  to pressure the amateur community to phase out AM altogether
and to coerce everyone to convert to slopbucket whether they wanted to or
not. Within a few years, major amateur radio manufacturers and most amateur
radio clubs had joined in the chorus, and all this combined soon translated
to considerable peer pressure within the amateur community. Then, with the
advent of Johnny Johnston's tenure at the FCC we were faced with a long
series of petitions and rulemaking proposals stretching out over more than a
decade, to cripple AM if not phase it out altogether. From the early 1970s
to the late 80s or early 90s, the AM community was forcibly pre-occupied
with constantly defending our position and fighting for our very existence.
Had it not been for this high-pressure campaign to "stomp out carriers" and
FORCE everyone to convert to SSB, the latter would have gained ground
naturally and with  less fanfare as more amateur phone operators chose to
include the option of SSB, the use of which would have gradually increased
while AM activity diminished, until the situation would have most likely
ended up pretty much as it is now, SSB the predominant voice mode on HF, but
with a smaller yet healthy AM community continuing to exist without issue,
AM and SSB co-existing with equal legal status amongst a wide variety of
available modes. Minus that pressure and the resentment it caused within the
AM community of that era, the infamous AM vs SSB wars of the early 60s may
not have occurred at all or at least would have been less traumatic and
disruptive to the amateur community at large, and maybe wouldn't have
spawned the widespread propensity to engage in deliberate/malicious
on-the-air interference and jamming, a legacy that continues to this day.

Agreed, what we don't want is for AM to be some kind of speciality mode that
is permitted to exist thanks only to a footnote or paragraph making it an
exception to general rules that would otherwise preclude its use. That's
exactly was what was proposed under the ARRL's ill-fated bandwidth petition.
A footnote or paragraph can be easily be struck  from the text, and AM
eliminated with one stroke of a key. OTOH, I think what Rob was getting at
is was the perception of AM from the perspective of those of us who operate
and love the mode. It is more than just another menu option or button on a
plastic radio; it is the very essence, one of the last remnants of what many
of us think of as genuine amateur radio.  In what other facet of ham radio
these days, particularly on HF, do you still find a significant number of
people who, other than tinkering with antennas, actually design, build,
repair and modify their own equipment and learn something in the process? Do
we want to promote AM by merely urging more hams to push the AM button,
without attempting to instil  the special enthusiasm for the mode that most
of us enjoy?

Unfortunately, CW, which would also be classified as a legacy mode, has
largely fallen into  the "just another mode" syndrome, special only  in that
it is limited to those who have somehow managed or bothered to master Morse
code, unless they entered the hobby before dropping the requirement for the
FCC test.  In a recent flyer put out by a well-known CW club,  most
of the topics had to do with plastic radios, keys, QRP, CW "operating
events", and  data over the past six years suggesting that CW activity is
increasing.  On the topic of vintage CW and operating his homebrew
reproduction 1934 50 watt transmitter, one author laments, "discussing
circuits and tube line-ups etc. has become a lost art" and that at times he
may actually bore people he works by rambling on about his rig.

When I occasionally work CW I usually mention that I am running a homebrew
transmitter using triode tubes in class C,  and only once in a great while
someone will ask what tubes I am using. Probably the majority don't even
know what "class C" means. I have found the CW stations I hear on the air as
much or more into the realm of plastic radio than slopbucketeers.  Most of
the time when they rattle off the model number of their plastic radio: "rig
here is a TS9FTIC-2700-A running 100 watts", I don't have any more clue to
what they are talking about than they do when I say something about my
HF-300s. It used to be one of the highlights of a QSO regardless of mode to
swap information about station equipment and tube  line-up. Very often these
days when working CW my contact will  remark that I'm the first person he
has worked in a long time who runs a homebrew rig.

Sometimes I hear people deriding AMers as being "elitist". Maybe it WOULD be
appropriate to compare ourselves to fine wine. Think about what the word
"elitist" means, per the Cambridge Dictionary Online. It does not have to be
disapproving:
"elitist, adjective
Definition > organized for the good of a few people who have special
interests or abilities: Many remember sport at school as elitist, focusing
only on those who were good at it."

So, wouldn't  we  wish to possess special interests and abilities in
something we are good at, or do we prefer mediocrity and  taking pride in
our ignorance? 

Of course, CW would have to be  classified as "elitist" as well, since to
operate it one has to master the Morse code, which was dropped in the tests
partly because so many would-be hams thought it was either too much trouble
to learn or so difficult that they could not achieve it.

I would never wish to do or say anything  to discourage someone from pushing
the AM button, but I would hope they would find something there, that
amounts to more than just another way to operate their radio. In a few cases
that I happen to know personally, the op decided that he liked AM operation
well enough  to become a regular, learning AM operating practices, and in a
couple of cases, ended up homebrewing something or acquiring vintage AM
equipment.

Don, k4kyv