The AM Forum

  After a successful night of AM operation, 23 stations worked or heard in 11 states and one VE2.
I wonder how North American contest stations would compare to the rest of the world over a solar minimum and maximum cycle, if ARRL sponsored an AM Contest? Is the amateur band ready for such a contest? Would you participate?


    Mike
  KØARA
 

 

Well, the ARRL is sponsoring an AM contest coming up the first weekend in April.  Hopefully the conditions will be reasonable.  A little late in the year, but if there's no static, all should be OK.  The conditions over this past weekend (the HMR) weekend were not great.  It's just that the sunspot activity is so low...

Had fun last night. Worked East to West coast and quite a few in between!
Even used the N3DRB Memorial FT101 setup to work Cali. on 40M.

  Bud
 I heard you sign out, I was on 3.880kc.
 No 40 meter activity here, but was heard in Maine on 160 meters.
 
  Steve
I mean a traditional score driven...Your 59 into Missouri, my name is Mike, good luck old man contest. I hope some of the big multi-multi stations make it for the April event.

   

I think it's great that ARRL issued an announcement for the AM Rally - amazing really - and clearly signals the exit of K1ZZ from League management, which, in my opinion, AM operators should be thankful for.

If ARRL created an actual AM contest of its own my guess is that contesters would embrace it.  "AM Sweepstakes" could be fun.  

Perhaps ARRL will be listening in during the AMR to gauge interest in an AM contest. I suggest unlocking the "window" shackles and spreading out as many have been suggesting for some time now. Keep an AMR log and send it in.

Maybe some clarification is needed here:
ARRL News says, "...The event is sponsored by Radio Engineering Associates (REA), in cooperation with ARRL, which supports all modes of Amateur Radio operation..."
On the ARRL contest page, it says, "Check out the 19 annual contests sponsored by ARRL."
http://www.arrl.org/contest-calendar
Are they going to amend their list to include the AM Rally or will it just appear in the Contest Corral for April?

The AM Rally is broadly inviting by encouraging every amateur operator who can to try the mode and includes an educational component for operating AM. I'm certain these would be the features of an ARRL event or contest, but since there are so many each year already, The League is fine with being a supporter of the AM Rally for now and leaving the administration up to the event organizers.

The AM Rally certainly got Newington's attention and it's great to see that level of interest on their part (I understand that even W1AW will be helping participants make AM contacts...imagine that!)

It all starts with the first steps, even if they're baby steps...

It is somewhat ironical that after all the past years with AM’ers complaining about contesters and their activities clogging up the amateur bands on weekends, here we are today pushing a nationally advertised “AM contest”. Yes, it’s called an “AM Rally” but obviously, based on the rules, there is a competitive and contest feel to it.

If one was around ARRL's on-the-air Centennial celebration throughout 2014, one could have worked W1AW numerous times on AM on all the major amateur bands.

That's true, but we like to think of the AM Rally more as an "AM open house" that includes a contest element for fun since the primary goal is to encourage newcomers to AM to utilize the mode. The unusual two month advance notice provides plenty of Elmering time beforehand.

The opportunity to score points and earn certificates offers a simple challenge and only requires the exchange of basic information, so it's an easy way to try something new.

The "contest" aspect is important because it gauges, with some level of credibility, how many stations actually were involved with the event.

We sent to the ARRL statistics from past AM Transmitter Rallies, and when you look at the data, a lot of stations were actually logged.

It is certainly great to just operate, but with enough logs sent in we have hard data to show just how many people actually use AM, since in order to be valid, both ends of a logged contact have to be using AM.

 With the 6 hours of operating time for HMR I can't imagine listening to heterodynes for an extended event.
But I would like to hear how the contesters would set up their audio, hourly QSO rates, and foreign pile-ups :o 

Piss n Moan..... Piss n Moan........ Piss n Moan!

There has been a "contest" element in these AM events since their beginning. The first HMR had "classes" for awards and all that.

Operate ifn you want. Compete ifn you want. But I, for one, resent the implication of hypocrisy. AM events just don't have the attitude of the SSB or CW cover the band transmit where ever QRM be damned weekend killing contests.

I doubt that AMers by and large would embrace a full-blown ARRL sanctioned AM contest.

In regard to the Heavy Metal Rally, if you made HMR contacts help out ER editor Ray and send in your log.