The AM Forum

Lately when I try to hop on late at night I'm finding the band devoid of AM signals (at least ones I'm hearing).  I know I've read a bunch of complaints about the antics and it seems like a lot of folks must have moved up to 160?  I checked and my antenna is still up.  I'm running 120 watts and the antenna could be better but I don't hear much back when I cq either??  I work all sorts of stations on 80 cw sporadically so I'm really thinking the Am'ers must be on 160 or the computer?  Early in the evening I hear all kinds of activity but no time then because the kiddos are pretty much full time distractions until they go to bed.  73,  Ed

The band goes long and most folks with land go to 160. Sunspots are pretty low.

Well it's 1:34 Am and the gang moved up from 160. Conditions are great. Frearless Fred is up the band being a pain in the ass .:( >:( >:(

There was a pile o'people on 3880Kc up through 0600 GMT when I crapped out for the night.
KB3AHE, N3IBX, KD2XA, AA3WH, KB2AM, probably some others. I didn't stay long -- TOO crowded !!

Went back down to 3820 and had a nice 40 minute chat with a K2 in Brooklyn who fired up his KWS1 to QSO. Turns out it was a rig that used to be on display at Harrison Radio (part of famed Radio Row where the WTC complex would later be built) and it was purchased as new by an instructor at the technical high school where he attended.

Fellow made the young boy wash his hands when he came over to operate it from time to time, but later softened and said he'd leave it in his will. Then, The Call came from the widow, after years of their not being in touch. The rig was his if he still wanted it. And so it goes.

QSOs like this are great storytelling material on a cold moonlight winter night, as I looked out the back windows into the woods and got a sense of the aether an the magic of wireless.

Speaking of which, I am now catching up with K1JJ and WA1EKV in working DXCC with special AM and monoband endorsements. Added Bulgaria, Germany, and Austria last night. QSL via the buro over over.

Hi Paul:

You won't believe this but K1DPM and I had a couple hour QSO up until 0415 GMT on 3880 without anybody breaking in (one guy's late is another guy's early).  Dick was running just shy of 500 watts but only 30 watts toward the end.  We were working cross town and left a lot of breaks but never heard anything.  He mentioned that a W8 station was just down the band but other than that the band seemed dead with Slopbucket above us and below us most of the time.

I'll make a point of trying to break in next time I hear you folks.  The normal thing for me is to start in the shack around 9, put the volume down, mess around on guitars but listening on breaks.  I usually pack it in around 11:30 ish week nights as the bambino is sure to wake me up twice a night. 

73 de W1XAW

     Last evening there was a large bunch on 1885. It quickly turned into one of those QSO's where someone breaks in at every over. The conversation went completely out the window and the sentence of good QSO death was uttered by someone. "I don't know who it goes to". At the same time there was someone calling CQ on 1890 and another on 1892!. There were 3 weak tuner uppers underneath our QSO and one guy in 4 land calling another guy in 4 land because someone who was pretty weak up here just finished making a 7 minute transmission that only 2 of us were able to hear. We finally moved off to a nice unused frequency of 1930 and started up a break-in type QSO instead of the other type. Worked out very well. Lots of exchange for the amount of folks on frequency. Nobody even had to ask the QSO death question. Yeah it's hard on the relays. Get better relays.
     Everyone and their brother is getting on 160 AM this year due to 75 going long and NAMBLA Net activity on top of our calling frequency. A whole lot of people want to use 1885 at the same time so it's obvious that a little WD-40 on the old VFO dial is in order.
    Some ops even have the sense to move up more than 5 kc so they don't wreck the ongoing activity. Unfortunately, some others cannot grasp this concept. I don't know anyone transmitting 5 kc bandwidth on AM myself. Yeah, I know this was the way it was done in the '50's. Last time I looked at my calender the '50's were about 50 years ago. Might as well just get on slopbucket with that spacing.
      Merry Christmas and happy QSOing wherever you converse.   

Was listening on the SX-16. Lots of activity on 160 last night - well past 1 AM. Some of the best signals I've heard thus far this year.

The group on 3880 was still going strong at 2 AM.

Better get your RX checked OM.

I know what you mean Dave.... I don't know what folks have against break-in operation. Some op's just can't/won't do it... I was in a QSO on 75 last year, bunch of guys operating break-in... great qso.. an N3 station (who shall remain nameless) broke in to join the qso, made a 5 min transmission, then proceeded to say... "well, I don't know who it goes to..."   "hey dude...we're operating BREAK IN!!!!"  arghhh!!! :P :P :P

ya know? PTT ... it's a beautiul thing!  ::) ::)

Steve, pretty sure there was no path  between us, at the very least you would have heard K1DPM with 500W. 75 if it goes way long can start to act like that.  I can usually work Europe on 75 with the antenna if I can hear them.  Antenna is no great shakes but it works,  Ed

Yea, Ed, just yanking your JS. When the band stretches, stations withing 200-500 miles are often gone. Late last night, the band had shortened back up. This has been happening a lot lately. Don't give up on 75 when it goes crazy at around 8 PM. By 10-11 PM it's often back.

When the size of a roundtable type QSO gets above four, it's time for the door.

Better to QSY and start a separate QSO.  That willl allow more meaningful conversation, and increase the visibility (or should I say audiability) of AM.

I can remember nights back in the 80's right after 160 had been (nearly) fully restored to amateur use, when there were AM QSO's scattered all across the band from 1885 to 2000.  As time has gone on, the AM activity has become concentrated more and more on a few spot frequencies, much like 75.

Hi Don,  that was me trying to say hello last night but I think I was just a tad too pw.  Ed