I would love to see an AM (and CW) vintage station at NEAR-Fest II. We had a special events call sign (W1D) but nobody used it this time. Any volunteers to organize the effort?
You need more sleep, Mike.
We already covered this along with the speakers/forums/displays, deciding to wait until October to get the first NEAR-Fest off the ground and work out the basic bugs. I'd say that has been accomplished.
The current plans involve having a 50s-vintage station on working display alongside or near the Class E station, taking turns and sharing the same antenna. This precludes interference issues and the need to check in with each other before operating. It also gives a good side-by-side comparison of AM technology from 'then' and 'now'. By sharing the power and antenna connections, there is not chance of damaging either station by operating in close proximity, and it makes the whole antenna launching situation easier. The older gear is already lined up, but operators are always a key ingredient.
Steve has also agreed to speak on Class E AM operations, and other speakers/forums are in the works.
Stay tuned folks, and be patient: October is a few days away. We're still recovering from last weekend!
I agree with Todd - It is best to have one special events station setup to avoid the obvious problem of interference and multiple antennas, etc. It would be fairly straight-forward to have a lock-out system, where the receivers share the antenna receive bus, but the transmitters cannot both transmit at the same time. A few relays will accomplish this.
It will also be interesting to see the differences on the Modulation Monitor - I'll put the monitor in the common antenna line so both stations can use it.
There's plenty of air-time available !!
Maybe I'll have a better looking transmitter by next Near-Fest. My RF deck leaves much to be desired in the visual department!
REgards,
STeve
