20 Works

[K9ACT]

Took me a while to get set up on 20 tonite but I ran the CQ robot for 90 seconds and hooked a bucket in 6 land.  I talked him into pushing the AM button and unlike what usually happens on 80 or 40, he was still armchair copy.

While we chatted and I ranted about the wonders of AM, two other buckets popped in from East and West Coasts to say the AM sounded great.

Armchair copy, no static, just plain fun... in the middle of Summer.

I may never go back to 80 and surely not 40.

So, until further notice, my night time schedule is 0310Z on or near 14.286.

Lets have some fun and quit whining about static.

Jack K9ACT

 

[W4RON]

Hi Jack, I've been listening to 20 at night a good bit too,
even worked a little ssb when the band was open to europe.
I'll try to be there late in the evening/early morning if anyone is
still up. Can't do it tonight as I need to try and get some sleep,
a friend is picking me up ay 06:30 to go to our clubs Summer Swap
meet tomorrow in Valdese NC.

73, Ron W4RON

[AF9J]

Hi Jack,

Welcome to high band AM.    It sure is fun!  Many of us consider the high bands an underutilized AM asset.  I wish you and I were closer to each other, to work on 20m.  I've been having a blast with my FT-301SD on high band AM.  Now, I wish I could get some of us to do 15m AM.  15 is great when it's open, and hardly anybody operates above 21.4 MHz.

73,
Ellen - AF9J

[K7NCR]

Jack:
Nice audio on our breif QSO tonight. We'll try again some other night.
Norm

[k3sqp]

Hey Jack,

so now 14.286 is the offishul  "Schmidling center for AM conversion", I guess you got tired of preaching to
the choir on 7.290...I'll meet you on 20 for cocktails....
Frank
K3 San Quentin Priison

[K9ACT]

Jack:
Nice audio on our breif QSO tonight. We'll try again some other night.
Norm

Thanks but it should sound a lot better now.  I just got the 811 rig working on 20 tonight so no more Ricebox audio limits.

js

[K9ACT]

Hey Jack,

so now 14.286 is the offishul  "Schmidling center for AM conversion", I guess you got tired of preaching to
the choir on 7.290...I'll meet you on 20 for cocktails....

I got tired of the choir not showing up.

20 is great.  Made two more converts tonight.

js

[K9ACT]

Jack --

Heard you on 20 AM last nite around 0315Z doing a crossmode gig with a west coaster.

Noise level was horrific over here and you were pretty weak.  I called you once with the ricebox and you mentioned you saw a carrier pop up.  I figured it just wasn't going to happen.  If the noise wasn't so bad, I would've gone over and fired up the B&W.  As it was, just headed off to bed.

Next time.

Thanks for trying.  Was really quiet here.  It was actually a round table but they could not hear each other.  I talked one into switching to AM and we carried on for a while longer but things started fading and we called it a night.

Still better than 80 these days.

js

[kb3ouk]

i'll have to try 20 some evening this weekend around 7 or 8 pm eastern.haven't really done am on anything above 40, so this would be new. most of my signal on 20 will be north-south, so any one on that direction will have to listen, if i can get the rig tuned up, or i may have to run the ricebox ,which isn't that bad but i like the other rig(the ft-901) on am more.
shelby kb3ouk

[K9ACT]

I have been keeping my 0315z schedule for about a week now and have yet to leave empty handed.

Last night I had two in a row respond in AM even though they had never used AM before in their lives.

More usually, they respond in USB but it takes very little coaxing to get them to push that AM button.

I am surprised at how many rice boxes have AM capability.

I also find that as often as not, they are easier copy on AM than SB.   The sig may be down a bit but they are more readable.

Give it a try, at least listen in and report back.  There is so little activity on 20 at night that it is hard to judge the propagation.  From my location, it seems like East and West Coast are always there but not much in between.

js

[k4kyv]

20 is great for one-on-one conversations during a good opening.  But I lose interest very quickly when a roundtable develops and one or more of the participants is totally skipping over, and I find myself listening to random noise and QRM for periods of up to 10 minutes or longer.

[K9ACT]

20 is great for one-on-one conversations during a good opening.  But I lose interest very quickly when a roundtable develops and one or more of the participants is totally skipping over, and I find myself listening to random noise and QRM for periods of up to 10 minutes or longer.

Can't argue with that other that to compare 10 minutes of random low level noise (almost quiet) to 10 minutes of straining to hear someone marginally above the much higher noise level on 80.

Last night I was wrapped up in a project so just listened on 80 to Tim who was near Q5 talking to someone else that I just knew was in there somewhere.

Before you know it, Winter will be here and all this will be irrelevant.

We need to hook up for another French lesson.  I keep a list for you, Don.

js

[N8LGU]

I was answered by a ham in Covington, Va last year-don't remember his call. It was on 3885 in the afternoon. He was using a new IC-718. His first time on AM. After having him reduce is mic gain, I was really impressed. Maybe Icom is paying attention to us!

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

There are a number of new(er) rigs that sound FB on AM right out of the box. Spoke with a N3 station on 40m for about an hour Sunday using an older ricebox with the pinched audio, it was one of the topics we covered. Curiosity and overall interest continues to grow in AM, the days of the AM audio snob is really a thing of the past. Run whatcha brung, upgrade to something 'better' if the mood hits ya.

The biggest issue I've seen(heard) with the SS rigs is getting them properly set up from the start - important since they tend to be well under 100 watts out on AM. Reducing the carrier is only the first step, you really need to bring the audio up enough to modulate the limited carrier, just not so high that it distorts. Once you find the sweet spot, make a note of it. Improper adjustment is probably the bigger reason for complaints about Yaecomwood rigs on AM, vs 'poor audio' in general.

Looking forward to giving 20 a try once the move is completed. Hopefully we won't box ourselves into a limited area there like we did for years on 75. More folks seem to be at least accepting of the fact that AM on the frequency is just another mode being used, though there are still some who try to claim otherwise.

Keep up the good work, the propagation can't resist forever.   

[AF9J]

You got that right Todd,

Purey by accident, my FT-301 has become my high band AM rig.  I only tried it on 10m for a laugh.  I was surprised when I got good reports on my audio (even after I apologized for using an old rice box which was supposed to have pinched audio).  So, as an excuse to use it, and because higher power isn't as a big of a factor on 20 & above, I've made Blackie my AM rig on 20 & above.

73,
Ellen - AF9J

[K9ACT]

I am too lazy to try to remember ricebox numbers beyond the Kenwood 430 that I own but one of the guys I talked to last night had one with control over the receive bandwidth and had very useful things to say about my audio.

His audio did not change about 4kc but he could appreciate all the audio trouble I put into mine.

What I find on 20 that is interesting is that I need not run my robot for an hour to get an answer as I do on 40 and  as often as not, the response is in AM.  I have had nothing but positive comments about using the mode and no intentional interference from other modes.

Very frequently it is the first time for AM but they seem to be willing to set it up before responding.  This saves me the pain of tuning in USB with my S40B.

As another point of interest, I am being flooded with QSL cards from hams wishing to confirm an AM QSO.

Strange world up there.

js