General Purpose Suggestion For 75 AM ops...

[WBear2GCR]

Thought I'd fire up here and transmit this one...

Here's a general purpose suggestion on 75 AM operation, an idea I had in the course of another thread...

The suggestion is that some folks make a point of QSY'ing or firing up down the band.
You can still CQ and meet up in the "window" if that's your style.
A sked would work too.
Perhaps the way to kick it off is to do it in the AM or late afternoon, when there isn't much competition for space.

Nothing special to it. Nothing that formal. Simple enough.

The idea is that if just some QSOs are happening down the band (like 3800 and up - so that generals can
do it too) THEN there is a REASON to spin the receiver dial and scan the band!!

As opposed to no reason whatsoever to scan the band. 

SSB ops will also get used to the idea that AM will be happening around the band. (important detail)

This will have a positive effect overall.

Hope that some of you will choose to give this a shot and stick with it for a while. I will.

                                 _-_-bear

[Pete, WA2CWA]

Many of us  have then doing this since the band expansion several years ago. But then we also hear the complaints, my antenna is just tuned for 3885, too many knobs to adjust on the transmitter, I'm crystal controlled, I can't find anyone, a sidebander scared me, where does the General section end, I got lost, my receiver is too confusing to tune, etc.

[KX5JT]

Many of us  have then doing this since the band expansion several years ago. But then we also hear the complaints, my antenna is just tuned for 3885, too many knobs to adjust on the transmitter, I'm crystal controlled, I can't find anyone, a sidebander scared me, where does the General section end, I got lost, my receiver is too confusing to tune, etc.

These sound like lame excuses.  Lame lame lame.  (Not you Pete, the ones that cry)

[WBear2GCR]

I'm not interested at all in why "I can't do it".
Around here you have to have a "can do' attitude, or you might as well just pack it up and quit.

This is a general purpose suggestion for people to use and to try out.

The SWR on ur ant is meaningless for the most part until it gets to 2:1.
IF yr ant get's to 2:1 when you QSY 30-50kc. down the band, time to rethink ur antenna system and how you operate. Plain and simple.

I get on with Slab down on 3.725 whenever I am so moved. My ant is resonant up around the window. I don't check the stupid SWR, I dip the plate and adjust the load, and then talk. No one has ever complained about how much weaker my signal is almost 200kc down the band.

If ya doesn't want to do it, then just don't do it.
Those of us who want to and will, will just do it.
You'll be down freq joining in sooner or later.
Or not.
Whatever.

When I was a novice, I was rock bound, power limited and I called CQ on cw and tuned the ENTIRE BAND listening for a reply. No biggie. Standard operating practice.

It takes real men, real hams, to blaze new territory.

                        _-_-bear

[Pete, WA2CWA]

Many of us  have then doing this since the band expansion several years ago. But then we also hear the complaints, my antenna is just tuned for 3885, too many knobs to adjust on the transmitter, I'm crystal controlled, I can't find anyone, a sidebander scared me, where does the General section end, I got lost, my receiver is too confusing to tune, etc.

These sound like lame excuses.  Lame lame lame.  (Not you Pete, the ones that cry)

And then, there's the age old question, why go down the band; why not go up the band 
The "old buzzard net" use to meet/maybe still meets every day on 3945.
The whole point of the exercise is that AM'ers should not limit themselves to one small area of the band. You can operate AM anywhere on the band where phone is permitted and within the bounds of your license class.

[Ed/KB1HYS]

Like the commercial says.

JUST DO IT.

[WBear2GCR]

Down, because it is "new" (er) territory.

Keep it simple.

                 _-_-bear

[Detroit47]

I have the same attitude on the radio as I do life. Drop that maul and screw em if they don't like it. The side bander's don't give a rats ........ about us why should we worry about them? What are they gonna do try and interfere with us, they do that already.

73 N8QPC

[K9PNP]

Yeh.  Lame excuses.  If you can't operate your equipment why do you use it?  Mine may be old and some of it beat, but I can make it work on any frequency it is designed to operate on.  And, considering the (measured or calculated) SWR of some antennas I have used, don't sweat that until it won't load or won't radiate.   

[WBear2GCR]

This has little to do with "side banders".

It's more about creating better options.
If we set up the expectation that AM will only be heard in a 10-20kc window, then that is what
people will expect.
So, don't set up that expectation.

Especially during non-prime time operation (at least at the outset).

So, call in the window if you wish, but why not say "it's open down on 3.8xx, let's QSY down"!



                   _-_-bear

[The Slab Bacon]

get on with a big signal and get respect!!

"Dont say nuttin, juss do it"

"Strap and ignore"

Getting down band (out of the general portion) seems to get you away from many of the territorial slopbucket groups, and "dead air" groups that use a frequency for their personal intercoms. Not to mention certain "nothing to say" nets, and personal "fan clubs" 

It's just much nicer down there. Although, like Bear says, sometimes it takes a while for others to find you.

                                       the Slab Bacon

[WBear2GCR]

I'm suggesting that the "regulars" around the "window" move down but not out of the general portion, AND that way they won't stress their antennas, or emit excess SWRs - which could be detrimental, as we all know.

This will certainly create a "new expectation" - ie. spin your receiver up and down between 3800 and 3900, just to check!![/!]

Going lower is fine...

                         _-_-bear

[The Slab Bacon]

If you are gonna get down, you gotta do it like the limbo!! "How low can you go!"

You really got to get down below 3800 to find some room to "stretch out".

Since we have discussed "Deliverance" in another thread, do just like Bill McKinney
(the mountain man) said "dont say nothin, juss do it!"

Take the test and get the upgrade. It's well worth the effort, now, more than ever!

                                                           The Slab Bacon

[KA1ZGC]

I look at it this way:

It's my license. If I want to operate on 3885, I will. If I want to operate on 3725, I will.

All these things will happen because of a choice I make at the time, not because of some perceived "shoulds" and "should-nots", nor some kind of social engineering exercise, nor following some herd mentality. The same goes for my license class.

The answer to "whose life am I living" should always be "mine".

Pretty simple, really.

[WBear2GCR]

I think it was Robert Young who pitched "decafe" coffee, Tom.


                             _-_-bear

[KA1ZGC]

Interesting.

I think it was Joe Namath who pitched pantyhose.

[flintstone mop]

Many of us  have then doing this since the band expansion several years ago. But then we also hear the complaints, my antenna is just tuned for 3885, too many knobs to adjust on the transmitter, I'm crystal controlled, I can't find anyone, a sidebander scared me, where does the General section end, I got lost, my receiver is too confusing to tune, etc.

I'll chime in with Pete......an age old problem and and age old excuses. Early eves are a good approach, but some folks aren't home from work, etc ,etc.
QSO's still happen on 160 despite static. Antenna and legal limit power are a must, though. And there are eves that it's not so bad. Prolly away from the local electrical storms.
40M is a little quieter.

Fred

[ka3zlr]

Social Engineering..?..Nein einen Hals haben.

73

Jack.

[The Slab Bacon]

Social Engineering..?..Nein einen Hals haben.
73
Jack.

        

Who goosed the moose?? 

[ka3zlr]

Lol..

[KB2WIG]

I thought he threw a football.


klc

[k4kyv]

Many of us  have then doing this since the band expansion several years ago. But then we also hear the complaints, my antenna is just tuned for 3885, too many knobs to adjust on the transmitter, I'm crystal controlled, I can't find anyone, a sidebander scared me, where does the General section end, I got lost, my receiver is too confusing to tune, etc.

These sound like lame excuses.  Lame lame lame.  (Not you Pete, the ones that cry)

Those lame excuses didn't keep people from "going down" right after the band first expanded.  Remember the "bandwarming party"?  I recall that 3600-3750 was well populated with AM at first.  There was even talk of establishing a 2nd AM Window somewhere down there (maybe or maybe not  a good idea - I always liked hopping round to different spots, myself).  Everyone was commenting on how nice it was, using the new phone frequencies, lack of QRM, slopbuckets, etc.

But after about 3 weeks, the activity began to dwindle.  As the novelty wore off, one by one, people began to migrate back to their old frequencies in the Ghetto. Within less than a year, AM was seldom heard below 3870, and it's still that way now.

But it's not only the AM'ers.  There was a lot of SSB activity all the way down to 3600, even though there was still plenty of open space for a QRM-free QSO whether on AM or slopbucket.  The slopbucketeers have done exactly the same thing as the AM'ers.  Even during prime time evening hours on a QRN-free weekend, there is little activity below about 3675.  It has become just about as sparsely populated as it was when it was restricted to CW/data.  

The CW guys are now pissing and moaning about the frequencies that were "stolen" from them, and now seldom used.  There is even talk of petitioning the FCC to re-expand the CW portion to  higher up the band, although I doubt that will ever happen.  Rightly or wrongly, the FCC will never willingly admit that they made a ruling in error.  Look at what happened with the AM power issue even though the comments received were overwhelmingly in opposition to the power reduction, and FCC personnel were reportedly "in shock" when they received slightly more comments on the AM proceeding than they received over the concurrent no-code Technician proposal. Of  course, nothing was "stolen" from the CW ops.  It is still perfectly legal to operate CW above 3600, and if it becomes too crowded lower in the band while the frequencies above 3600 are lying unused, why don't the CW guys just QSY up there and get away from the QRM?  About the only time congestion is a problem below 3600 is during a CW or RTTY QuaRMtest.

The lack of frequency agility has admittedly been a problem for me.  I can QSY maybe over a maximum range of about 75 kc/s on 75/80m without having to run down to the tower to re-set the antenna tuner.  There have been times when I was tuned up either in the Ghetto or Down Below, and heard a station in the other part of the band I wanted to work, but just didn't have the ambition to make the trek to the tower.  Hopefully, that will be at least partially resolved in the upcoming season as I rebuild  the tuners with remote tuning capability in the new dawg house.

BTW, those same "lame excuses" that are keeping people off the frequencies below 3870 seem to be in play on 40m.  When broadcasting was first lifted in March 09, for a few weeks there was consistent AM activity in the vicinity of 7160.  But like the new frequencies on 75, once the novelty wore of, activity began to dwindle to the point that it is now difficult to find anyone to talk to on AM in that part of the band.  Over 50% of my contacts are now with slopbucketeers who decided to try their riceboxes out on AM for the first time.  That is not a bad thing; a few have liked AM well enough that they tried it again later, and one or two have become AM regulars as a result.

My problem with 40m now is that during the late afternoon before the band becomes congested with SSB, it is still well within the daylight hours and I am usually at work outside in the vegetable patch or trying to keep the homestead going one more day without falling apart.  By the time it gets dark and I have finished with the evening meal, the band is usually loaded with signals, and just about the time activity begins to thin out enough to find a spot to operate, the Ethiopian jamming comes on and wipes out the band.  If I stay up late enough for the jamming to fade out, I have found it easy to make contacts, unless of course the entire band is wiped out with QRN.

[WBear2GCR]

Tom, consider the decaffe - it was Whitey Ford who pitched, Sandy Koufax too, Namath as noted threw passes... 

                                   _-_-