The AM Forum

for what it is worth This weekend I heard 2 new upgraded general calls on AM! Ohe was KB1IGN and KE5ERI. one was running a very good sounding ricebox, and the other was running a Collins 20V3.
This bay be the start of a new "renissance of AM". One of them said that he has listened to us for many years but was kept away by the code requirements.  Ya never know, something good may well come out of this!!

                                        The Slab Bacon

Imagine coming into this place from scratch with a 20V2, now that's Rocket Radio

how about an incentive, to learn the code. The obvious one would be
to join the ranks of yesteryear hams. you get an extra-plus certificate
if you pass the code. no more privs, but the honor of joining us old
general, extra folks ? eh, oh well probably would get shot down, but a thought.

hey Frank- was that cool or what? Saturday night the guy breaking in all nervous like his first QSO and then saying he was on a 20V! so much for the hordes of freebanders taking over 75 theory some have...

I haven't noticed any increase in overall activity on the phone bands.  In fact, I haven't heard a single "/AG" or "/AE" yet, not even on 28.3-28.5.

The floodgates are open.

But where is the flood?

Just tune around 75 meters ... sideband.  I've heard at least 8 /AG's since Saturday, but unfortunately all the ones I've heard so far have been trying to cosy up to those sideband groups that squat on the same frequency, day after day.   :(   Hopefully they'll get bored with that nonsense soon.  I don't think that removal of the code requirement will produce many new Extras though.


Sam

I wish them luck.  Most of those "slopbucket groups" are rude and nasty to non-members, even to those of the same age and years of experience on the air.  If the newbie slopbucketeers succeed in joining those groups, that means they'll be hanging out on the squatters' bought-and-paid-for frequencies and not trashing up additional band space with SSB.

I've heard a couple /AG's but not many as I don't often sweep through the slop bucketeers domain. I have heard one /AG on AM the other night. The call eludes me it may be one of the same guys mentioned here. I'll bet the Slop Bucket clicks will be a big disappointment tho. Many of them who have been SWLing them will surely find how many of them are snobs and not at all the friendly gang they appear to be on the outside. Hopefully most of the AMers will do the exact opposite and welcome them as long as they act responsibly.

There's quite a number of young guys over on Hamsexy trying out HF for the first time.  One was already disgusted with the behavior of the 3950 slobucket group  ;D

That guy definately sounded a bit "mike shy" and awkward, but it didnt take long for him to loosen up. He had a pretty good signal from 5-land. I was listening back and forth between both qso's. The other guy from 1 land basically acted like he knew us all. He had been swling us for years. It was good to have him join us.

If we make any attempt to be friendly to those new guys, I think they will prolly find the AM groups more attractive than the "hostile slopbucket" nets.
Here is the fruit ripe for the picking!! Be friendly to the new guys and it could very well stare a new renissance of AMers!!

I was looking through my logs (when I used to keep one) from years ago. Many of the people that used to always show up are no longer active (at least on AM). Our numbers are dwindling slowly, now is the time to replenish the troops, take advantage of it.

After all what sucked me into AM was not just the mode, but the people as well!! Wouldnt you rather hang out with a bunch of friendly people instead of a bunch of beligerant sphincters!!

                                                     The Slab Bacon

"where is the flood",--

Don,--As I mentioned before,--It will take more than a couple of days or
a week to know the "full impact" of the no code license,IMO.
Give it AT LEAST 6 months to a year, AND THEN we will see what the
results will be.

As far as learning cw,--most will not IMO, as what incentive is there,
after getting phone privileges "handed" to them?
I know many think CW is "archaic", but might not many think that AM is also archaic?

Wait until propagation improves, and we just might see many who want
to "shoot dx",--freebanders included.

                                     73, K1MVP

dont forget that one BIG thing that seporates us from "freebanders" and other "scofflaw" radio users is a callsign!! With that in mind we are not simply an annonymous voice behind a microphone. With that in mind and all of the callsign databases around it is pretty easy to find out who someone is. This should help prevent some of that crap.

Without a callsign  no one will talk to you! Its that simple.

With a little careful elmering from the "group elders" the newcomers could actually become quite an asset to the hobby. Many of these people will be very to be part of the hobby. Many have felt that they just couldnt learn code and stayed away. These people will be very proud to have a callsign (like my dyslexic wife).

the opportunists and other naredewills will eventually fall to the wayside and loose interest. But how many 20wpm extras have done the same? Quite a few!!

You have to take the good with the bad, amd I'm sure we will have an influx of goofballs as well as good people. This is inevitable, but sooner or later the goofballs will fade away and leave the good ones to go on and become an asset to our numbers. This has been the case with code proficient operators as well. It is up to us to do whatever we can to shape the final outcome!!

                                              the Slab Bacon 

I personally don’t think there will be a flood, but that is just my opinion.

What drove me to get my General was to be able to get on 75 meters with you guys and all these wonderful sounding AM plate modulated rigs, as they would say  go play with the big dog’s cmon. 

I finally went to 3885 on Saturday for the first official key down with the Valiant being legal and try to get some air time and wouldn’t you know it the VFO decided it wanted to start drifting all over the place, so I didn’t get to talk at all, just sat their like a bump on a log and listened again.

I tore into it on Sunday and found the 6au6 bit the dust in the VFO section, so I figured since I had it apart I would go through and check all the tubes again and found a loose cap on one of the 6146’s so I ordered three from RF parts yesterday to get it up and running for this weekend.  So hopefully I will get to make some contacts finally with you guys provided the radio gods let me.

So if by chance you hear me with my AG sign don’t be scared, I don’t bite lol.

Richard

Richard,
           while you're into the VFO, be sure to change out the Chernobyl resistor while you're in there. Be sure tio use something with a lot higher wattage rating. this will save you some grief further down the road!!

                                      the Slab Bacon

AMEN BRROTHER!!!!

Since the initial first few days of the band expansion, it has been increasingly more difficult every day to get an AM contact in the extra class 75/80m phone segment, or for that matter, even in the advanced class segment.

A couple of "dead-air" groups are already trying to stake out their claims in the vicinity of 3685, and griping about the presence of AM in that part of the band.  I don't think it would be in our best interest to attempt to start a new "AM window" on that exact frequency, but if we don't continue to occupy various spots in the extra class segment on a regular basis, it is going to become increasingly difficult to fire up down there without having to fight some belligerent slopbucket group over the right to transmit near "their" frequency, whether they are actually using it or not.

KB1IGN Is a homeboy! Im gonna havta look him up. Ive been sick and working long hours as of late so I have not been on but I have heard him on the bedside receiver. I have heard quite a few /AGs and keeping them from the darkside (certain nets) may be a chore but AM is what attracted me to radio and once they get a taste of it,and are treated with a bit of respect, they will cqme. In my opinion the nicest ops around run AM.

Don you will be thrilled to know that last night when I didn't find anyone I tuned to 3.892 to listen to the garbage collectors for a while.  A new /AG joined them and started right in.  They welcomed him with open arms.

Day before yesterday, Brian.W5AMI and I were down in the Advanced section in QSO when a /AG joined right in with us.  We gently remined him to check the band segements where he was licensed to operate.  He was very embarassed and thanked us before he left.

Good work as always Paul..

I blasted it out on a few MySpace Ham Groups..

 
Richard,
           while you're into the VFO, be sure to change out the Chernobyl resistor while you're in there. Be sure to use something with a lot higher wattage rating. this will save you some grief further down the road!!

                                      the Slab Bacon


Slab,

 Thanks for the suggestion, I will take care of that while it is still in pieces.

Richard

I had the pleasure of working KE5ERI and his W0VMC built 20V. He was a bit shy but soon got into it. I might mention that I believe he is an Extra, not a general. I think his Rx is an R390A
Top notch stuff that can keep the riff-raff at bay!!!
I realize it is pretty easy for folks to get an elitist attitude and become impatient with newcomers but his operating was certainly better than my fumbling around way back when. I think 'ol Robert mighta been coaching a little--just my hunch.
Skip ;)

"elitist attitude and become impatient with newcomers "      Very well said...

" we were once young , playing with toys "        sung by ???

****hint***  we handle this                    klc

This makes me wonder whether we ought to make a few recruitment excursions through the 3900s, having AM QSOs among us and getting ourselves "discovered" by people we could welcome and invite toward our usual haunts.

And to this website.

But if we do get a tsunami of newcomers to HF, I'm afraid things will never be the same if this is typical.

http://www.qrz.com/ib-bin/ikonboard.cgi?s=3309c84ed27577c13966b7696534f0f6;act=ST;f=7;t=148170

"Presence" on the bands is the best recruitment tool we have.  It's been years since I have heard any AM activity above 3900, or even been there myself.  Until fairly recently, it was always congested beyond usefulness up there, and it was pretty much slopbucket alley.  That dates back to the pre-incentive licensing 1960's when SSB first got a stronghold in ham radio.  The "SSB portion" was at 3900-4000, while the "AM portion" was at 3800-3900, by the prevailing "gentlemen's agreement".  There was P&M'ing even back then about people not observing the gentlemen's agreement.

But in recent years, I have noticed many vacant spots up there, even on weekend nights.

As I have said many times, I don't really think we are going to be hit by any "tidal wave" or "tsunami" of new no-code ops.  I suspect that's more in the domain of wishful thinking by certain interests, than reality.

I have only one rig that will run crystal control, and a drawer full of 160-80-40 and even some 20 mtr xtals, but none  are cut for any of the popular "AM Windows" or "calling frequencies" or whatever you want to call them.  But many of the SSB guys might as well be xtal control with their digital synthesised rigs.  You never hear them anywhere but on "their" frequency with the same group night after night (not that I do any tuning around for the specific purpose of trying to keep track of them).

Isn't there an "old buzzard" net here in the Northeast that meets every morning(10:00,11:00 ??AM) on 3945?

That's a mouthful brother. I never understood why someone would spend thousands of dollars for a synthesized full coverage radio only to use it like a cheap crapstal controlled one. And then people wonder why I think slopbuckets are morons.

Seems to me I heard a wonderful asset to the newcomers on Yay-em last night! The lovely tones of a YL/AG! Let's hope she'll be a regular now and provoke more YL's to join the best of the best! She certainly has one of the best of the best when it comes to Elmers too!

For those of you who weren't listening I'm talking about Carol KB2OMT/AG.. Welcome aboard Carol the better half of the bacon slab! Don't be so shy to yak now and then! :)

FLOODGATES MY A$$!! I took the yl to a ve testing session yesterday afternoon. This session was held by the biggest and one of the best known clubs in this area: B.A.R.C. This is the club that puts on the Timmonium hamfest at the end of this month.

There were 4, thats right 4 people there to take their tests!! Dont look like no open floodgate to me!! The staff there was very nice and friendly and it was a very positive experience. I enjoyed talking to the attending club members while she was taking her test.
She passed with only 2 wrong!! I was quite proud of her!!

My wife and i have been married for 20 years now, and have always shared all or our hobby interests together. She has always had some interest in the ham radio hobby, but the code was always the big stumbling block. I tried on many occasions to work with her on it, but due to her problems with dyslexia, it was nearly impossible.

She passed the Technician written last month with what she has absorbed by osmosis from being around me for years. She passed the General yesterday afternoon and spent her first evening on HF on AM!! It was a very positive experience for her and everyone else in the qso. (despite her slight case of mike fright)   KB3OMT /ag  (KB3 Old Mother Trouble)

Thanks to the dropping of the code We can now share all of our hobby interests, and I will never be bitched at for wanting to go hamfest or bringing home a radio again!! ;D ;D

So you see there can also be a very good side to no code thingie ;D ;D

                                                                                   The Slab Bacon

Franko,

Congratulations to your wife on passing her General! Nice achievement! I think it's great that you two can share your hobbies together. I heard through the grapevine that Carol performs a mean overhaul and alignment on R-390As, and she's now completing the electrical and mechanical design for a 1KW plate modulated HF rig using a single 4-1000A modulated by a pair of 833As!

My radiochick Janet, has always had a strong tolerance for my ham radio hobby, and she can completely understand my passion and enthusiasm for it, but she has literally zero interest in this stuff. She never even stops to listen to the QSOs in progress. I think she got turned off a long time ago by some of the bodily emissions and occasional off-color comments that are occasionally heard on the 75M band. But Janet always makes herself available when I want to show her a new radio or audio project that is either in-process or just completed. On the other hand, she really enjoys the homebrew stereo system here, which is understandable, as she can play here own records, CD, etc.

I think it also helps in that I try to maintain the shack at a very high WAF; e.g, Wife Acceptance Factor.

At any rate, Frank, consider yourself blessed that you have a true soulmate that passionately shares your interests. That is fairly rare, indeed!

73,

Bruce

Bruce,
          after being married to me for 20 years and dating for 3 before, my wife has absorbed pretty much of my offbeat sense of humor by osmosis.  (she actually thought I was totally gross and disgusting when she first met me!!) 

We now share a very similar sense of humor and sense of values as well. She has been a long time listener of the AM goings on, quite often taking the other chair at the operating position with me and laughing as hard as me at some of the shenanagans going on. She is not at all offended by the "off beat" comments as long as they are not directed at her in the first person. She has a great sense of humor, and the AM "goings on" are actually what drew her into the hobby!! Its because we are real people. She is a lot more into the social aspect of it all than the technical end.  She has really enjoyed meeting all of the people and especially those that have come by for the yearly party.  After all, she married an ex
auto mechanic / drag racer and still a biker. Need i say any more!

Now she has set the bar for all of the other AMers YLs Lets see where it goes from here.
And besides she can now keep the frickency hot if i got to step out for a 10-100 or something. 

It would be pretty cool to hear some of the other AM YLs get in there and cut it up from time to time!

                                                                               The Slab Bacon

Maybe Carol can be the President of the Ladies Auxiliary of the Old Buzzard AMers! :D

I'd like to hear more YL's interested in AM. It's not that I don't enjoy listening to the rest of you guy's but a ladies voice is always nice to hear coming out of the speaker for a change. Overall there are far too few women involved in Ham Radio.

Yes, and the female voice always sounds so much better on AM than when transmitted over SSB. Female voices over SSB are so poorly reproduced as to actually be painful to listen to. Gives me ear bleed.

I seem to remember a YL named Sally who hailed from New England and was somewhat active on 75M AM back in the 1980s. What ever became of her?

73,

Bruce

Jen gets on whenever she's here in Randawful, VT. In fact, several times she's actually asked "are we getting on the air later?". Last summer she was at the mic while the July 4th parade was passing by, relaying my reports to the group. I lose track of who all she's talked with, the last time was 'VJB and 'JN I think?

But I dunno, Frank....do we really want the YLs/XYLs getting on the air together? I mean, they could plot against us, or worse - we might not get the mic back for hours!

I can hear it now... "I like this one with the chrome emblem, but that gray color is just awful! How about lavender and beige, and I'll make some little curtains for that window up top?"

:o !

Yea, Todd, but you missed the whole point! this could be the springboard to moving the hamshack up from the "basement laborratory" to the main floor. a giant step foreward in "societal evolution"!! ;D ;D

and........er......furthermore.............. She has allready inquired about possibly putting a "small station" in the back bedroom / den.
Small station?? Hmmmm.......... The 4X1 rig is kinda small, lets see where this one goes ;D ;D

How long will it be before the 4x1 gets painted pink??? :D

I have to concur with Frank on this.  I too, when I took the Extra back in December witnessed the same thing.  I was one of 3 people who took tests.  The test session was at the ARRL HQ.  I figured there would be a ton of people lined up because it was at HQ, but no.   I passed and got the heck out of there.

This Saturday I went and had my upgrade for General.  I was one of 10 people there that had already took the test and passed and was doing the paper drill.  There were 8 Tech's taking the General test and 12 people taking the Tech test.  So it was a rather busy place here in El Cajon CA.

Richard

Callsign: KA8UVQ   Class: Extra   Codes: HAI   USA
Name: SALLY J DAWSON
Addr1: 14288 CLARIDON TROY RD
Addr2: BURTON, OH 44021
Country: USA
Effective: 11 Dec 2006   Expires: 20 Feb 2017


Not too far from Ashtabula Bill's place.

FWIW-The YL took the general test this past saturday, and she's allready listed on QRZ as a general. WOW, thats friggin fast!!

I would have thought that with the "open floodgates" it would have taken longer than 2 days. Go Figger!!

                                                   The Slab Bacon

Let's hope some other AMers soon upgrade. ;)

X-Posted on HamForum.com. KA1ZGC introduced me to AM and it's been my intention to operate AM once I stepped up in licence class.

http://www.hamforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=29625

worked one on sunday. His first time on HF was on AM!! KB3CYX / ag
His tx iz an Apache, rx iz HQ-170A. First time on HF and using vintage gear, a man after my own heart, whatz not to like.

                                                      The Slab Bacon

Cool!!  Welcome, and have a sip of Kool-aide  ;D

getting upgrade on march 31 (passed the test in jan.) and have only thought of ssb.  i am considering am now.  thanks for the kind words and welcome to us "ham lite" types.  hihi

someone fill me in on freqs. and procedures for calling etc.  on am.  all my experience is on 6 meters sideband.  am differs i believe.  i am setup for the general sections of 80,40,17,15,20 and 10 meters so freq. shouldnt be a problem.  prime equipment is 857d but also have viking II, apache and ft101e.  thanks fellas

73
Gary
kd7ubp
kd7ubp@yahoo.com
kd7ubp@hotmail.com

Congtatulations and welcome. No real set procedures. The one thing you'll find about most AM action is it is very relaxed. If you hear a QSO, feel free to join in. Otherwise, find a clear frequency and call CQ. Commonly used freqs are shown at the first link below. An extensive list of AM Nets is found at the second link.

Since the phone band expansion on 75 meters, you will also find AM in the 3600 and 3700 ranges - most often around 3685 and 3725, plus or minus.

AM Freqs
http://www.amwindow.org/freq.htm

Nets by day
http://www.amwindow.org/nets/netday.htm

by freq
http://www.amwindow.org/nets/netfreq.htm

by location
http://www.amwindow.org/nets/netloc.htm

No such thing as a "ham lite".  You pass the test fair and square and don't cause trouble on the air so as to lessen others' enjoyment of the hobby, there's no differentiating in my mind.

Welcome to AM, and be sure and check out the "Handbook" section of this forum as well as the AM Window which has plenty of good tech articles.  www.amwindow.org