The AM Forum

Wednesday Nite/ Thursday Morn  Coast to Coast --

Heard  WA1QIX booming into Oakland,  CA at abt  1:30 AM EST.  Steve was S9 + 20 here.  Working a number of W. C. stations -- after our AMI Net on 3870 Kc.

Abt 10 days ago K1JJ also heard with a big sig here,  working W. C. and stations in S.W. andf mid West.

Usually we have QRM from a group of southern stations who occupy 3870 on SSB for 6-8 hours in our evening,  but they cleared out by 1:00AM eastern last night,  and allowed C/C QSO's.   Recently also heard HUZ ... So  looking for more C/C activity when the band goes long.   73  C U on 75,   DE   Vic  KF6RIP     .   .

Hi Vic,

Tnx for the reports.

I usually give a listen every night around 10:30 PM for the opportunity to work west coast on AM. It doesn't matter to me how poor conditions are, I will still try if I can find a clear frequency to call..

On what other frequencies do you guys hang out besides 3870?  Many nights I hear you in there, but there are usually strong ssb groups on top of 3868/3870/3872  making it a brawl if I called in on top... ;D   

Ya know, some night we might all try an ssb night. We do it sometimes here on the east coast. We'll get 10-15 guys sometimes checking in. It's a scream with many of us having trouble getting on freq, RF in the audio, etc. But after awhile everything gets ironed out and we have fun. Short comments - breakin. We usually slide down the band below 3870 and have the freq to ourselves.. It could be fun for a coast to coast session sometime letting some of the stations who cannot make the trip on AM participate..

T

Hey,  Tom,

Well it is very busy on 75 M these nites,  Loud SSB stations occupy the entire AM Window:  3870 - 3890 Kc.  Sometimes the big stns here move up to 80 or 85 to work Mid West or E.C.  Prob could find a clearer sopt below 3870.  Waiting until later does help,  but of course that gets a bit late there.  Think that many of us here in the west are running P.W.  100 Watt stations  with 35-ft high inv. vees,  so it takes a very capable station on the other end  with teriffic TX and RX antennas,  or extraordinary conditions.

More of us are trying to get on with more POWER and better antennas,  but this is the land of small lots and RESTRICTIONS ... Think that there are more Tall Ships in the East than here right now.   I do hear K4KYV  Don on 160 meters on occasion (with his 125 ft Vert).  But that is a much tougher trip,  but usually much less QRM.

Yes SSB would be easier and a Kick ..,. have heard U in the 75 M DX window on SSB running EU stations,  and taking stand-bys for Russians,  so mabe inna few weeks will hr U on SSB.

73  Tom Vu,   will look for you on the bands.   DE  KF6RIP

Tom regularly takes standbys for Russian mobile ops, but only with an XYL named Svetlana.

   

 ;D ;D ;D

One night on 3799.9,  after working a bunch of UA's , I was pushing it and said, "I'm now listening for Russians named Vlad, owning yellow Yugos with wives named Natasha, only, please, OVER"...   As hard is it is to get Russians to laugh, I think I heard a giggle from Moscow.

One of the funniest guys was Igor in 1987. At the time the Russians were not permitted above 3700. So he would come up to 3795 and anonymously ask us to listen down on 3655. You'd tune down and there he was.  The crazy part was that his old xcvr didn't have split, so he had to spin the dial between every transmission. There was a 3-4 second delay when he came back and was always on a different frequency each time.   ;D  But, he was excited and enthusiatic about working us. That's what I like about these guys. Russia is my favorite part of the world to work and I give them preference over anywhere in Europe when the 75M band is open to them.

T

T

Yep, those poor bastards had/have to do it the hard way. Most of the station pix I saw from years gone by looked like mostly homebrew. Now, if we could just get one of them to come to Slab's party and drink some vodka with us.....

The Russians are nothing if not resourceful.

I highly recommend a visit, T, it's a fascinating place. 

73 John

and they have plenty of oil.

They have plenty of oil 'cause they have NO EPA !!