[AMRadio] AM Presentation

[Bob Macklin]

Todd,

Here on the west coast it seems the groups I know of are stuck in the AM window. The PNW group was 3870 only and the SoCal group operates on 3870 or 3885. 

Ten years ago there was AM activity from SoCal on 14286 in the late afternoons. That's all gone now.

It seems the main interest in AM is mostly east of the Mississippi.

We used to have 10M SSB groups operating locally here in the evenings. Even that is gone now.

I just picked a bad place to retire.

Bob Macklin
K5MYJ
Seattle, Wa.
"Real Radios Glow In The Dark"
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Todd, KA1KAQ 
  To: Bob Macklin 
  Cc: Discussion of AM Radio in the Amateur Service 
  Sent: Tuesday, June 18, 2013 1:00 PM
  Subject: Re: [AMRadio] AM Presentation




  On Tue, Jun 18, 2013 at 3:48 PM, Bob Macklin <macklinbob at gmail.com> wrote:


    Why is the 75M AM Window the only place AM seems to live. 75M used to be a good late night band. But the groups I know of only operate daytime or early evening. Then the propagation is limited.



  It's not, Bob. There is AM activity down in the 80m portion regularly. Same goes for 40, you can find AM places like 7.220, 7.160 and so on. Depends what you can hear at your location. The AM Window mentality is from a time when SSB was dominant and few people still operated AM. It offered a calling frequency of sorts to hopefully be able to find other AMers. Like the 'specialty mode' argument, it's done nothing positive for the growth of AM, instead it limits operation by pigeon-holing AMers (voluntarily, I might add) to a handful of frequencies across the bands. Smarter minds have long since moved forward, especially with the phone band expansions 7 years or so back. 



    I'm not even hearing late night SSB on 75M here anymore.



  They're all on the internet or watching TV. (o: It's different back east, Bob. And I find plenty of activity from Ohio and other areas in the middle part of the country. West coast is a haul from here best accomplished in quiet winter conditions.


    A 100W SSB RICEBOX can only produce about a 25W carrier in AM mode. But that is plenty for a club to use for local operation. And there is plenty of space between 7200 and 7300 to find a clear spot to work in.

    All you need is people with an interest in playing with their radios.



  One of the skills lost to time seems to be the ability to find a spot and call CQ. I do it regularly even if there are other AMers elsewhere - why make a group larger and more unmanageable?  Start more activity. Alas, many folks say "I listened but didn't hear anyone on so I shut it off and watched TV". 


  ~ Todd/KAQ