[Boatanchors] 10 meters

[manualman at juno.com]

10 meters AM last Fall was great with lots of AM contacts around the
world. Likewise on 15 meters, worked lots of AM stations. Almost every
Sunday morning (somewhere between 9 AM and Noon EDT) you can find me on
20 meters AM. "local daytime contacts out to around 30 - 50 miles,
actually almost any time day or night" doesn't really cut it unless you
live in an metro area. Out West, your nearest neighbor 30 miles away
could only be a gopher that doesn't have a ham ticket. On 75, you can
generally find AM contacts around 3705 or 3710. A number of European AM
operators also hang out around 3710. On 75 especially, there is lots of
AM amateur radio activity besides 3885 or 3875 which both at times sound
like CB channels.

Pete, wa2cwa

On Thu, 06 Jun 2013 21:46:50 -0400 "Bry Carling" <bcarling at cfl.rr.com>
writes:
> Rob - interesting comments.  I would not say that those bands stink 
> for AM at all. How they 
> are unused sometimes - that stinks.
> 
> 10m and 160m are both reliable, excellent AM bands for local comms. 
> As are the other 
> bands you mentioned. 
> 
> DXing with AM has never been easy UNLESS there is a strong sustained 
> opening as CAN 
> happen on 10m at times (or any other band.) Yes, it is frustrating 
> to work DX with AM when 
> the QSB sets in, however, there has been a conscious decision on the 
> part of most hams to 
> NOT use 160m AM and 10m AM, both of which are stupendously good 
> ground wave bands 
> for local daytime contacts out to around 30 - 50 miles, actually 
> almost any time day or night.
> 
> That is not the fault of the bands, it is the choice of the users. 
> They prefer to fight the SSB  
> QRM on 75 meters instead. I can't completely explain why. One of the 
> main causes of these  
> wonderful "old bands" being overlooked,  was the 1970s mania for 2m 
> FM and repeaters in  
> particular for local comms.  Cheap surplus equipment and more 
> relaible communication over  
> a wider area caused us  all to settle for less comfortable operating 
> procedures (like no CQs  
> allowed!) and other habits brought in by the "new era" that tracked 
> parallel with the popularity  
> of 27 MHz CB. Don't forget the new lingo too - like adding "For 
> I.D." when gving your callsign 
> - he he.
> 
> The amateur radio AM revival beginning around the early 1980s 
> somehow has had almost  
> everyone convinced that they should only operate on about 4 
> frequencies: 3870, 3880, 3885 
> and 7290 kHz. There is a great big (non-channelized) world of AM out 
> there on places like  
> 1885 - 1985 kHz, 3650- 3660 kHz,  3725 - 3745 kHz, 3820 - 3830 kHz, 
> 3855 - 3890 kHz,  
> 7288 - 7297 kHz, 14285 - 14290 kHz, 29.0 - 29.1 MHz,  50.400 and 
> 144.450 MHz.  There are 
> local AM nets on a lot of these frequencies. Most groups don't 
> publicize them.  You can really 
> operate  anywhere you want, but most of  the guys, even AM ops will 
> not bother to listen 
> there for a  CQ nor make one of their own. It's  easier to join a 
> roundtable and let someone 
> else lead the  way than start something. I am still  having a blast 
> - mostly on CW, and 
> occasional AM and  SSB, but I miss the pioneer spirit of  the 1960s 
> hams. 
> 
> YMMV - Bry, AF4K