The AM Forum

I was participating in the Gulf Coast Mullet Society net this evening.  After it wrapped up, I was enjoying a nice hot bath to counteract the winter storm effects.  I had turned up the volume so I could hear the activity there on 3.885 AM.

ALL OF A SUDDEN!  The frequency gets absolutely quiet.   It was eerie.  Then comes the booming call "CQ CQ AM DOG EX-RAY"

You know the commercials where the long haired guy is lounging in his chair in front of the hi-fi and he turns it on and his hair blows back?

Congratulations BILL KD0HG !!!!   

I heard him just now as I was tuning around 75. He is exceptionally strong especially considering the distance traveled.

Bill's rig crapped out during our QSO.........Oh no Mr. Bill..........

It musta been Sluggo. He's always mean to Mr. Bill >:(

That name cracks me up - Gulf Coast Mullet Society. I can help but think of a bunch of guys that look like this.

Yep, "Business in the front, party in the back."    ;D

(I must admit that I do miss the fun 1980's)

While he does look authentic, (especially the weed in the mouth) it as obvious a staged photo. There is no wad of 'chew' visable, along with the tell tale brown trail on the chin.


klc

Yeah and there's no shotgun rack on the back window or rebel flag either.  ;D

But alas, they are a great bunch of guys.  At the Jackson Mississippi hamfest last weekend, I asked some fellows that were hanging around a table of boatanchors, "Do you run AM?" 
More than one answered "Every Tuesday and Thursday evening".  Funny, that's when there's the SouthEast AM swapnet and the Gulf Coast Mullet Society net....

... man!  I run AM every DAY!

Hmm!

What would happen if you mixed the Mullet Society with the Geritol Net?   :o

Phil - AC0OB

The Mullet (as in fish) was better known as "Biloxi Bacon" where I grew up on the MS gulf coast.  The fish is easily caught via cast net and is excellent smoked. 

After this recent snowfall (with more on the way) I am starting to miss a lot of things from Mississippi with seafood and weather topping the list.

Thanks for report. I recently upgraded the antenna system.

I tore down my old antennas made of #12 Copperweld and replaced them with real cable from an audio accessory shop. Long-Grain Copper/Perfect-Surface Copper: Type 8 uses a carefully finessed combination of Long-Grain Copper (LGC) and extremely high purity Perfect-Surface Copper (PSC) conductors. All conductors are solid, which prevents strand interaction, a major source of distortion. Surface quality is critical because a conductor can be considered as a rail-guide for both the electric fields within a conductor, and for the magnetic fields outside the conductor. LGC has fewer oxides within the conducting material, less impurities, less grain boundaries, and definitively better performance. The astonishingly smooth and pure PSC further eliminates harshness and greatly increases clarity compared to OFHC, OCC, 8N and other coppers.

Only $12.50 per foot.

Smoked Mullet, mmmm.   I used to frequent a restaurant in the tiny fishing village on the Florida Gulf Coast (Cedar Key).  They had an incredible concoction of smoked mullet, garlic and cream cheese that was heavenly on crackers.

Bill, I think you ought to write the next April Fool article for QST.  It would be really good.

Rob

Is this leading to a discussion of tessitura?



You get the Mullitol Club. It's open to old engineers who are bald except for a ring around the sides and back, which is let grow mullet length.

I hope not.

Bill, as I'm sure you're aware, quite a degree of care and precision is required during the break-in period of the LGC/PSC conductors; and especially so when these audio conductors are used in antenna service.

It is imperative that, during the break-in period, the LGC/PSC conductors are energized only with the type of emission and from the emission source which will be used during a minimum of 54.82% of their service life. Simply put, this means that if the conductors will be used primarily for A3 emission driven by a plate-modulated emission source, one should not undertake the break-in process with a solid-state Class E emitter in J3 mode. LGC/PSC conductors subjected to a cross-modal break-in exhibit a strong tendency toward self-oscillation on the 11 meter band, regardless of the intended frequency of operation or the mode of excitation.

It has been shown experimentally that LGC/PSC conductors which are initially energized and held, for the duration of the recommended break-in period, at a +88.34 dBm level by the servo-modulated Sigma Delta output signal of a Rockwell Retroencabulator exhibit none of the previously mentioned anomalies and, in fact, perform with a negative loss in both trans-modal and cross-modal service. This effect has been observed at all frequencies between 1.8 KC and 29.7 MC, with the exception of five specific frequencies approximately centered around 5.3 MC. On those frequencies, the LGC/PSC conductors exhibit loss characteristics sufficient to reduce the ERP of the exciting signal to 1 mW, regardless of the level of the input signal,  and also invert the USB emission to LSB.

Recommended break-in periods and other applicable information regarding the use of these exotic conductors in antenna service are presented in the seminal work "Trololo" by Vu, Tom and Eduard Hill (2011).

Retroencabulator information: http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/95/ (http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/95/)

I hope this information is useful to you.

ldb
K5WLF

Nah, you get the Skullet, or Skulletol Net!   ;D  Sexy!!   ;D ;D   BTW, I didn't just invent that term, it's been around for a while. There are a few heavy rockers in their 40s and 50s that are going bald, and should know better, but nevertheless insist upon wearing their hair in a skullet!!

(http://img.listal.com/image/554568/600full-devin-townsend.jpg)

Athough in the case of the gentleman above (Devin Townshend, formerly of Strapping Young Lad, and lately of The Devin Townshend Group), he may purposely wear his hair in a skullet, because he was poking fun at heavy metal imagery (although, he really is going bald).  I used this photo because Devon's the one I remember most for wearing skullets. In recent month's Devy's basically just shaved his head, and worn a skull cap.  

He kinda resembles Steve Howe of Yes fame.

Yep.  Steve's been veering into skullet territory in recent times!   ;D

(http://www.getreadytorock.com/reviews/steve_howe_live.jpg)

Man those dudes need to learn how to wear hats! If your gonna get on stage with a guitar at an advanced age (and not wear a hat), you need to have hair like this guy.  ;D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7Qr3romi9U

Yeah, I don't hink Marty Stuart's in any risk of going bald anytime soon.  As for Skullet #1 (Devin Townshend) - he mainly wore his hair in a skullet to poke fun of the whole aging rocker with long hair in a heavy metal band thing, when he had his metal band Strapping Young Lad going on.  In his more prog oriented bands, he wears a skull cap the majority of the time, and even shaved his head for a while (Devin's the one on the right in the photo below).

(http://www.metallibrary.ru/bands/discographies/images/the_devin_townsend_band/photos/the_devin_townsend_band_01.jpg)

As for Steve Howe - he should know better!!

Either that photo is distorted or that dude has some looooong fingers!

The photo's distorted.  His hands aren't THAT huge!