[AMRadio] Why AM

[john nelson]

I have been following the threads for a few days and it is a very
interesting discussion to say the least. I have a few am rigs DX30,DX60 and
a Drake T4-XC and I have limited time to keep these rigs running so I am
not on the air as much as Iwould like to. But this might just be the reason
that there is a dwindling interest in AM. When most of us were much younger
AM was our first dabbling in armature radio. Today there is a lot of (tech
savvy) much younger hams that do what they know how to do and that is go
digital. Many of us started with old surplus equipment we were given or
bought from the AX-Man surplus stores in the 60's and 70's and if you could
save enough money buy a Heath Kit. Now days the young hams have grown up
behind a computer and feel most comfortable hiding behind a screen making
social interactions and it carries over to their hobby of armature radio.
Let’s face it most of the AM’ers are in their 60's and in 20 years it will
be all but gone.



We learned the basics of radios by leering theory learning to read a
schematic and figuring out how to solder, oh ya let’s not forget your first
real shock from a soon to be respected power supply. If AM is to survive it
will have to be with the help of clubs. There is still an interest in
armature radio or the younger hams would be doing something else rather
than joining a club and attending meetings. perhaps it is our fault that
the ranks of AM’ers are dwindling. AM is so simple but at the same time
very complicated to the plug and play generation.



There is a tremendous amount of knowledge in the old men that make the
ranks of the AM’ers and if there is not a transfer of this knowledge it
will be gone in a few decades. There needs to be a Manhattan type project
to develop a (Heath Kit style) AM transmitter with all of the knowledge of
decades of experimentation  so the younger hams can build their first tube
rig. This would allow the younger hams to learn the basics of a real radio
and develop the pride we all had when we powered up our first home brew or
kit. if there was a kit or a least a very good set of step by step plans
that would cover all the basics and it could be integrated in many of the
clubs around the country this would regenerate interest in the old soon to
be lost art of AM. It is not that young people would rather go digital on
VHF/UHF it is they have not a lot of options. If you handed a young ham a
DX-35 and told them to get it working they would not have any idea where to
begin and just toss it in the trash. Let’s face it there is a lot of guys
and gals that have a wealth of knowledge in AM and they need to figure out
a way to safely put it in the hands of the younger hams.



This is just my view but I think it is what is necessary to keep the
interest in this fascinating part of the armature radio hobby



John W0XAZ