The AM Forum

WOW, just worked WA3QGD/7 in Washington state, followed by a contact south Florida with my man Warren W1GUD  !!


3875kc

Booming in here in MO. I guess you cant hear my PW rig.

Is that you?

Let me tell Joe WA2PJP and we will pull you out of there.


9:50PM Sat

3875kc

ok

i was hearing Bill KD0HG earlier but i called back and he must not have heard my 100 watts.
Shelby KB3OUK

Thanks for the shot....20 watts just wont make the path tonight! I just got this thing out. Its been in storage since 1998. Ill listen some more and hopefully my signal will improve....

Sway it goes, yeah 20W is a lot to ask.
Maybe the congestion off to the sides will clear out in a while.
Hit us again.

Meantime --


Shaking folks loose !

Rare appearance by Howard now W3HM, local, but seldom heard ....

Heres what Im running. If I can make a contact with it, it will be my first AM QSO since 98!

Adding KA7NGT in Mineral, Washington just now.

Whole group includes WA1QIX, WA1GFZ, W2JBL, KB1SEL,  and WA2PJP, W1EUI, WD8BIL, HLR others

At one point the late Jeffie Cramer came up, The UAN.  As we were talking about him a guy at Timonium, Md., checked in staying he knew Jeff AND his father.

Rich WA3SKQ has put up a tribute site.
http://www.qsl.net/wa3skq/wa3uan_page.html (http://www.qsl.net/wa3skq/wa3uan_page.html)

Turns out, a missing piece of the puzzle, is that Jeff's Dad was constantly hearing Jeff on the bathroom fan motor, if I understood this guy correctly.  Classic story.  Made me feel bad all over again for bustin' Jeff.

Band is nuts for me in AZ. 

Huge list in front of me including Tom, Tim and others.   Band is full in the Ghetto.  70,75,80,85.   Going to sit at 70 and talk to the West coast guys.

C

Adding W5ZG at Magnolia Texas just now. Northwest of Houston.
Hearing us on a 75A1. Totally solid copy but missed his transmitter, name, weather report and antenna.

We've got activity on 3870 out east -- wish I could hear you guys.

Hit us again if you're cruising by.

Those Web receivers are awesome!   ;D ;D

Up here in IOWA on 3. 875 I actually heard Doug in MO, Julius in OH, Robert from MASS, and of course Paul in MD and then I heard you guys slide up to 3883.XX? to get away from the Marconi net. Thanks for allowing pauses so others could could break.

There was was this one guy on the Marconi net on 3.872 that must have had a 16kHz slopbucket bandwith. G&^%$ was he irritating.

I also heard Robert UJ break in and tried to get back to you but to no avail. UJ's carrier was quieting everything around the window.

Maybe one of these days I can move out of the Valley of the AMBC doom and get away from the major lobes of two BCers.

Phil - AC0OB

Phil did you and Doug hook up ?  I just couldn't hear him. Would have been a kick to have been his first contact.

OH - and this --


When they work.

Globaltuners just went through a site overhaul and most of the "good" receivers were busted. Interface issues on Windows 3.1.  Even Netscape 5.0 wouldn't talk to the virtual front panel.

I was forced to use my own receiver.

How quickly we forget life below the ghetto.

My excuse is that after installing a vacuum variable in my xmtr, I figured the less I vary it, the longer it would last.

I got real brave last night and tuned it up on 3705 and called CQ but as soon as I unkeyed, one of those sleeping buckets woke up and said the freq was in use.

I moved to 3720, tried again and had several nice QSO's with W7ISJ, W6PSS, K4KYV and N9MS.

Looking around down there I would say there was room for about 10 AM QSO's.

As a point point of interest, KYV mentioned  that he noticed a clear spot around 1965 as a possible alternate to the ghettoized portion of 160.  I will keep an eye on that also, although my antenna does not like it there.

Jack

Jack I don't know why I felt like putting up with all the congestion around 3875Kc last night. Stations kept checking in, for one thing, after I had signed with Buddly WD8BIL with one of the strongest signals I've heard from him in quite a while.

But yes, it was a mess and I shoulda checked for AM action down low.

Forgot to do so by the time I threw the switch around 0600GMT, despite that someone had just checked in with a KW-1 filling up the receiver (my receiver).

Not if you're a girl.....

Phil, that may have been me.  I tried to get in there a couple of times using my 1/4 w. vertical but i think each time I timed it wrong and was in on top of or under someone else.  Sorry about that.  I heard Paul real well; also K1JJ and HLR and Budley.

Jack I heard the guys on 3720 but just in tuning by so didn't linger long enough to ID anyone. 

The only prob. I can think of with 1865 is that on Sat. night it would be close to the WA0RCR news bulletin transmission on 1860. 

Rob

Actually, I said 1965 but no reason not to go the other way but is always seems booked up.  Being near RCR may actually be a good idea.  Using him sort of as an AM lighthouse.

js

There were a couple stations hearing my pw signal last nite. Steve WA1QIX, and Jon W2WDX could copy me well enough to carry on a QSO, but I got out early because I didnt want to drag it down. I think John KZ4B was also hearing me for awhile as he answered my CQ and then I got hammered.

Thanx to everyone for trying to dig me out.

Uh-huh. And you have a bridge you wanna sell me too. Funny stuff.

How about this coming Friday ?
08 Jan 2010
I got a reminder from one of the stations out yonder :

Hi Paul  (vjb)
We still operate AM on friday evening at 7:30PM PST /10:30 EST..on 3724kHz..
Come on down & join us..More the better..We worked U several years ago on AM...73
Dave  W6NSE  Middletown, Ca...90 miles north of San Francisco... K


And/Or, there's the 1st Wednesday CCA gathering this week. Separate post follows.

OKAY WE'RE ON  ;D  WE WILL OWN THE LOWER PART OF 3700!!!  :o

There is a monday night net for Southern CA AMI on 3870.  Starts at 7 or 8PM CA time..  I am on 3870 now and hear nothing...

C

Okay, something just doesn't make sense. I'll admit, I'm not totally savvy when it comes to the newer stuff. I'm guessing Globaltuners are online receivers? I've used such things in the past when on the road away from the mic, for listening in and keeping up with folks. But do people actually use them now for 'working' AM? I mean, if you're using an online receiver to complete or claim a contact, wouldn't that basically be a simplex version of Skype? You might as well just make a phone call.

Maybe it's a method for those who can't run with the big dawgs? Then again - I've heard folks work coast-to-coast with a 100-200 watts when conditions are good. The thing is, when conditions are that good, everyone can work 'em.

How quickly things change. Serves me right for not being online as much lately.   ::)

There's a delay of about 20 to 45 seconds from real time due to internet "propagation".  That's right internet streams "propagate" around the world through various routers and other superhighway centers.

I find the online recievers are nice for checking your own signals propagation.  I do listen to them from work since I don't have a receiver here.  I work in a large metal building so I otherwise wouldn't have a good chance at decent reception in here.

I don't think anyone is suggesting using GT in that way all though it happened to me that way once. I use GT for antenna, modulation and audio testing. There is a nice 10 second delay so you can talk for nine seconds, then unkey and listen to yourself without any distraction.

I did this once and someone came back to me that I could not hear in my local receiver.  This was just a fluke and not intended.

The real problem with GT is that most of them use "one size fits all" antennae or even worse so the signal strength is nothing you can take to the bank but is really likely to be better than what you hear.

The other thing you can do is to have your own DX contest. See how many countries you can work, give your self a sig report and GL in the contest.  Send your log to Santa and you will receive a very nice certificate.

Jack

js

The online RXers are fun to use.  I never use them for on air contacts though.  I have sat in hotel rooms stripped of all my radios while on biz trips.  Then, I can logon and listen to the guys chat thousands of miles away. 

Another good use is to fine one way out where you have a good signal into. Then adjust mics and compressors ect.  I plug headphones into the laptop and key down and listen to myself. The delay allows me to really hear what I sound like over the air.

C

I guess I'm gonna have to fire up the FLEX and the Titan flamethrower and make some waves on 75M.

The remote receivers are a great use of the Internet. Don't need no radio check!!

I still enjoyed the YouTube vid of the distant end receiving K1JJ on his 40M stack and actually seeing the sig meter and hearing what happens to the radio signal thousands of miles away. The Huzmman was making schwangin the munkey too.

Phred