Why A.M. ???

[W2XR]

In my case, it's about two things I have always been very passionate about since I was a young boy; building things with my own two hands, and good sounding audio. Homebrewed AM equipment and AM operating really fulfills these two requirements for me.

Building "things" is plainly in my DNA, and that of most men I suspect. It's the natural urge to create, to build something  unique yourself that perhaps no one else has ever done before.

I was introduced to good sound and to building by my Dad when he built an Eico ST-70 vacuum tube integrated stereo amplfiier kit and the mating Eico tube FM Stereo tuner kit back in 1962. He mated that combination up to a pair of Acoustic Research model AR-2AX speakers that he still has to this day. I clearly remember him putting both kits together, a little at a time after work in the evening and on the weekends, until they were both completed. The construction quality looked really nice as I recall, and the experience of watching him assemble those kits was utterly fascinating to this then-eight year old, as they evolved into the final finished product. But the most exciting thing of all, for both me and my Dad, was when he hooked the amplifier and tuner up to the speakers for the very first time, with some degree of trepidation I suspect. The whole thing worked the very first time, and the rich, warm tube sound was spectacular. The entire experience has obviously had a lasting and profound impact on me. Although the purchase and assembly of those kits by my Dad was not intended to be an investment in his son's future, it really was as an unintended side benefit. It's too bad that he traded the whole affair in for a piece of crap Pioneer stereo receiver in 1972; I should have kept those two Eico kits he had built for sentimental reasons........

Generally speaking, I have minimal interest in virtually any hobby if I can't design and build the end result myself, or at least do something that involves some element of touch labor to it. As a result, I have built my entire vacuum tube stereo system and 1000 watt plate modulated AM transmitter from scratch. I am now building a 2000 watt PEP input SSB rig using major assemblies liberated from a removed-from-service TMC GPT-40K SSB rig. And I have gotten great enjoyment from my classic car that I also restored myself.

Insofar as amateur radio goes, my first 2 meter FM rig was a modified (by me) Motorola 60 watt dual-6146 trunk-mount unit from a local police department. I built up the 120 VAC power supply for that beast and even rack-mounted the whole thing. It was probably a hell of a lot more fun to use than one of those ICOM or Yaesu riceboxes that everyone else was running back then, even if my Motorola was rock-bound to only 2 frequencies.

I could'nt care less if the rig is AM, SSB, CW, FM, EME, you name it. If it is something that is within my capability and talent to construct myself, I'll do it. And I have the utmost respect for anyone who builds anything themselves, amateur radio related or not. Unfortunately, the entire concept of homebrewing anything nowadays has evolved into a lost art.

Just my 2 cents on this topic.

73,

Bruce

[W3RSW]

Some mention's been made of the fidelity of AM compared with SSB.  Of course with the Hifi SSB crowd some of these benefits can be enjoyed by both modes... but, and there's a big but...

I think I first heard the concept or description from Paul, Wa3vjb about AM being a delicate painting overlying the broad wash (background) of a full quieting carrier whereas sideband was audio from a spray can,  hissing nozzel and all, tamed only by the AVC action of the receiver.  The dynamic range, scope and majesty of AM, just like a beautiful painting on canvas carries information in the most natural way.  Well I may have butchered his description somewhat but the 'modulation' (you get the idea) is clear 

For 'proof' of concept or better, a demonstration, I remember an XYL touring the Farfest AM station, (W3PRL special events AM station using Franks 4-1000 transmitter and receiving on a great older receiver) asking her SSB hubby, "how come your station doesn't sound like that?"  "It's really nice and full."  Well, after some stammering and stuttering he just wandered off. 

Yes, proper AM, even as transmitted by hams sounds like FM over a reasonable car radio, rich and full, siblants and bass in proper perspective with the voice sounding natural.   Even the best SSB'rs with phase locked loops tend to wander especially in a roundtable.  AM'ers can have carriers a little off frequency from each other and still sound natural.  Does this wonderful mode take 8KHz?  Sometimes.  6KHz?  Sometimes?  Late at night with little other use of a band? .... perhaps 10kHz..   That's the beauty of the mode.

There's a learning curve though.  As the guys have mentioned, construction, operation and understanding of AM equipment is far less tolerant of 'appliance mode' thought. Most of the older gear uses more continuous power, therefore beefier components and beefier power supplies are required for the same sideband PEP compared with SSB.  But the benefits far outweigh the pitfalls.  Newer AM transmitters, particularly class D use surprisingly little power, in effect being very efficient AC powerline/wallsocket converters to high frequency AM.

[W3SLK]

The question is "Why AM?" I say "Why not?" But to quote Tom:

It's the people on the mode that I like about AM.

I tend to agree. I like the technical discussions. I don't like the qrmtest or any other slopbucket racket. I've been know to use slopbucket but not too much. I essentially got it to run other digital modes. I can fix my AM rigs. I'm not too sure about repairing my TS-940SAT, nor would I want to open up that Icom IC-$$K rig.

[WBear2GCR]

There's truth in all of the posts so far.

The keys, I think, lie in a few areas that have been touched upon, but need to be linked together.

AM today is different than the AM of the 50s and 60s.

Back then, when a majority of the hams were still on AM, the band was wall-to-wall heterodynes. It was a carnival of huge proportions. The worst "band wars" in the heyday of the SSB era (in the 70s and 80s) pale by comparison to what the bands once sounded like. It's darn civilized by comparison now, with rather selective radios, digital readouts (yes, Martha, we are more "channelized" than ever), and a vast majority of ops being on SSB.

So, if a high percentage all went back to AM at once, and the bands were active all at once, we'd be back to the world of heterodynes and carnival.

The opportunity today is for AM to shine in sort of a "virgin state", being rather pristine without the problem of the overlaying heterodynes. We get to experience the very best that the mode itself can offer today.

Once we get past this basic truth, then all the other things come into play that have already been mentioned.

Very high on the list of all those things is the lure and mystique of the older radio and it's very look. It is very hard to not notice the styling of these old radios - being from the pre-solid state, pre-robotic-mass-production era. Rigs like the Super Pro, the Collins line, the Hallicrafters SX-28 or just about any of them... they have "style". That style just can't be beat. Glowing tubes are intrinsically fascinating.

Nothing wrong with the ICOMs with the LCD "CRT" in the front - but it's different.

The clincher, if there is one, is that it is now "our time." Folks from this generation, in the main (the Vietnam era mostly), are now the majority of ops. And certainly, I know that this is the stuff that we lusted over when reading QST back in the day.

Now, I could have bought all of the AM gear I wanted for almost nothing in the 1970s. I remember it piled up high at Rochester in the late 70s. No one wanted it, because everyone (well, a vast majority) had moved over to SSB. It just wasn't where the "action" was. It wasn't cool, or hip, or happening. It was old buzzardly, and tired, and a bit goofy, and big, and hot, and large. I know that some of the present day AM ops were on AM then, and dug it then, but they were the exceptions no matter what.

AM is kool again, and is "where the action is" because it is "re-discovered". You can own an AM rig, either an old buzzardly station or a new-fangled Class E rig, and importantly find people to talk to as well. So, simply stated, it works!

Having said all this about "us" (the new generation on AM), I do miss the old silent key generation of AM ops, I used to listen to them a whole lot. That generation seemed to have different operating habits, as there were always some that ran late into the night, and early early AM in the morning... more than it seems nowadays.

The bottom line?  AM is kewl again!

            _-_-WBear2GCR

[AMroo]

AM just sounds best for comms.

I know one appliance operator real, real well who has-
   - built gear at home for 45 years until he is blue in the face.
   - has worked on RF comms gear for the last forty years.
   -designed many RF products that were produced in their 100,000's.

        Many on this forum have done similar

   YGF should not assume all appliance operators are the same.

I run a Swan 500C because it is
   - physically smaller than comparable gear I have built.
   - Its a known classic
   -It belonged to a dear old friend who is now S.K.
   - I can identify and converse with others who have the same rig
   - It has a honorable lineage and history from an All American back yard manufacturer
   - It is recognizable by other collectors, you cant but them any more, may even be rare one day.
   -You have to know what your doing to get top AM sound out of that puppy.
 

   

[WB2YGF]

   YGF should not assume all appliance operators are the same.

I am the LAST person that would assume that.  In fact I have been arguing just the opposite.   I don't believe in putting hams into "Good Ham" / "Bad Ham"  categories using labels like "appliance operator" that Hams invent to make themselves feel superior.

[W1EUJ]

I like to fix things more than building new. Perhaps as an escape from the pressures of design work during the day, perhaps because it was always cheaper for me to fix rather than build or buy new, perhaps because you could rely on a group of people out there having the same problems as you with a design and getting good advice and a supply of spare parts. And perhaps the mythology and mutual appreciation of the 'thing'.

Yesterday I was a proud as a peacock as I put a final polishing coat of wax on my Drake 2A, bringing back the original shine without losing the wear of decades of log books and Q-multipliers sitting on top. I installed the VFO that I had rebuilt into the HW-101, with new resistors and some mods to fix some issues, and it worked perfectly.

Not being on the air not, or at all really, can't really speak to the question at hand. I really dig the classic rigs, however, and I smile so much in my workshop that I have to take a break every so often to give my facial muscles a rest. When an old friend stopped by, I showed her my workshop and my projects. She called it 'my center', in this sense:

Our bodies are vessels. They can hold only a limited amount of energy, either good or bad. Find your center. Cleanse your body of bad energy and replenish it with good. Feel restored. Feel animated. Let your daily work energize you rather than deplete your energy. Create joy.

It is true. It is my center. In my basement.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

AM has always been kewl. It just takes some people a while to realize that.  

Another way to look at the why am question is why not. It's a legal mode and you choose to use it. Why do you need to justify it. Does the questioner justify his use of SSB?

[W1UJR]

Which would you rather listen to?
The loud "kerchunk" and the quieting of the static as a big AM carrier comes on the air, the rich mellow tones of amplitude modulation flowing from your speaker, or the squealing, hissing, beeping computer tones of a digital mode.

AM is all about people, about hearing the nuances of each operator, the emotion in his voice, the squeak of his chair, the sound of the rigs blower, the hum of the plate transformer, and so many other intangibles than simply can not be conveyed on the digital modes. SSB is a poor substitute for AM, with its narrow bandwidth and consequent restricted audio range, but it is better than computer noise. AM is also the most simple mode to receive, no special skills are required to understand it, making it available to all ages. SSB and the digital modes require a more complex receiving apparatus, and even computers to decode the message.

Some time back HUZ had a audio file on the AM Window site of an AM operator on air with crickets chirping in the background. I don't think I've ever heard an audio clip that so well conveys the rich experience of AM. One could close one's eyes, and almost envision being there on that warm summer night, the crickets chirping, a cold 807 at hand, a light breeze playing through the screen porch door, the lighting bugs flashing...it is,and there is no other word for it, simply magical. You can find the file on the AM Window at http://www.amwindow.org/audio/htm/wa1mtz.htm Take a listen, see what I mean. The richness of the AM mode may carry you to reminiscence of the early days of radio dramas, or "theatre of the mind". Just try that on SSB.

While some may say "Why AM?", I would reply "Why Not?"

[K1JJ]

AM is all about people, about hearing the nuances of each operator, the emotion in his voice, the squeak of his chair, the sound of the rigs blower, the hum of the plate transformer, and so many other intangibles than simply can not be conveyed on the digital modes. SSB is a poor substitute for AM, with its narrow bandwidth and consequent restricted audio range, but it is better than computer noise.

Bruce,

I think you hit upon an important point there...

Think about our senses: Using our eyes, light has a tremendously wide bandwidth to convey information - and our eyes take in more information than any other sense.  Smell, touch and taste are very limited.

This leaves us with hearing. Our interpretation of sound through our ears is also very limited. Getting an impression of a person through 300-3000 hz (ssb) is pretty much limited to the information contained in his voice.  CW, RTTY and the digital modes have even less information.

AM, using 50 - 6000hz takes in a range of OTHER sounds in the room, including the finer voice characteristics that helps to fill in the complete mind-picture about a person. It is subtle, but important to our brain processing. 

Considering how limited our ability to absorb information is using sound, (compared to light) we need all the help we can get.

Painting a mind picture of someone is much more accurate using a higher audio bandwidth, especially when it is of low distortion, like many of the AM rigs of today.

It reminds me of using a telescope for astronomy. I have a little 3" reflector. When I compare it my the pair of 10" binoculars, it is mind blowing. Same light, same object, but the amount of information delivered to my brain is substantial.

Same analogy holds true for AM.

T

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

For me, it was more like the pot-o-gold at the end of the rainbow. Started my ham radio life on the bottom rung and went through the usual facets from SWLing to CW to SSB to chasing DX. As the 80s rolled on, it had become a lot less interesting and the old wooden radios I'd started out with a decade earlier became attractive again. Then I stumbled onto some interesting AM roundtables and some not-so-technical-but-very-amusing AMers and was drawn back into an interest that was otherwise fading. Got to meet some of the fine folks like 'INR, 'JJ, 'KW (still EKV then), 'HLR and many others at Deerfield in the late 80s and that was all she wrote.

As John says, it's the fun factor that is addictive. Anyone who feels they need to be stone cold serious and professional all the time in amateur radio needs to join ARES and become hamsexy. Old gear can be used for CW and SSB as well, so that's no qualifier - more of an added bonus if you like heavy tube stuff since you can get an old BC transmitter and leave anyone who's not a ham thinking you've lost your cabbage. To be able to use the stuff to have fun is the best.

It sounds more appealing to the ear, you can run whatcha brung from tubes to riceboxes to HB to Class E - doesn't matter. The level of technical expertise and camaraderie found in this group is second to none. From ants to audio to beer - we've got it all. And it's only as challenging or limiting as you want it to be. 

[W9GT]

Why AM?

Well speaking only for me,

There is no single aspect that, taken by it’s self, would be enough. There are many aspects that taken together make AM the thing that keeps me going in Amateur Radio.

It’s the Warm inviting sound that makes you feel like the fellow you are in a QSO with is sitting across the room. Signals that are so easy to listen to for hours, whether it's in a relaxed round table or a rapid fire free for all in a break-in QSO, many of which were built by the person behind the mic.

We are a true international fraternity of like minded folk who still enjoy the technical aspect of the hobby, with people who are glad to share what they have found. 

Operating and caring for vintage gear that you can jab with your soldering iron and not worry about smoking some tiny IC or losing some surface mount component.

Having the option to get into the latest technology whether its hardware as in class E rigs or Software using SDR's.  Or even some weird combinations of all aspects like using a class E transmitter, and an R-390 receiver with the IF plumbed into a softrock. Having access to people who can make such combinations work, and work well.

My personal opinion is that the groups of folk who operate AM represent nearly all aspects of Amateur Radio. 

These are good reasons why the number of people who operate AM is growing in a hobby where the average numbers are declining. Perhaps AM embodies the best parts of Amateur Radio, the way it is supposed to be.  I think TOM would approve.

Why AM?   Indeed Why NOT AM?

Very nice comments, Ed!  I agree with them all and I agree with most of the comments that have been made here, except perhaps the negative ones.  It seems to me that we have better and more constructive things to do than to bad-mouth and otherwise berate other modes and other specialty interests within amateur radio.  I have to admit that I have been angered and have lashed out a few times myself, but it certainly didn’t change anything.

Let the SSB’ers enjoy SSB, let the contesters enjoy contesting, and the digital guys enjoy their thing.  If they significantly interfere with our QSOs,  let them know!  Otherwise….turn up the wick and ignore.  Some of them certainly have not been shy about complaining about AM.  I truly believe, however, that those vocal and discourteous few do not represent a majority, by any stretch of the imagination.  Why give them the audience they crave?  Many radio amateurs scarcely know that we even exist, let alone set out to give us a hard time.  Sure, we have our annoying detractors, but for the most part, their criticisms should be ignored.  As long as we are always on the defensive, we only hurt ourselves by paying too much attention to some people who will never be swayed or have their minds changed about accepting AM or leaving us alone.

AM, as well as vintage/nostalgia radio, and the closely allied interests of home brewing and experimenting are really great parts of amateur radio, perhaps unique in the tremendous camaraderie that exists amongst our group(s).  AM’ers are always ready to help and offer suggestions.  They enjoy the “people aspects” of the hobby sometimes as much as the technical aspects.  AM is a mode that is pleasant to listen to and often the style of operation is laid back and relaxed, perhaps recalling techniques utilized long ago.  Break-in type operation is also fun, especially when roundtable groups get too large for “old-buzzarding".  There is also a lot of interest in mixing “modern” technology with the old and whether you enjoy restoring and operating old gear and vintage style home brewing or you build new solid state stuff, you can find a niche and really enjoy talking with fellow AM’ers.  AM’ers are a nice bunch of people and I am truly proud to be one of them.  Long Live AM!

73,  Jack, W9GT

[W1RKW]

John,
I think you hit the nail on your website (http://kx5jt.net/am.html) for the most part and others have added positive reasons that cement it as well.

[WU2D]

Irb made me do it.

[WB2YGF]

Irb made me do it.

While Irb didn't "make" me do it, since his 10M group was what got me into AM as a newly minted General, I would have to agree.

[KA8WTK]

Why AM?
  You may as well ask why Chevrolet over Ford or Chrysler. It has to do with what you like and what fits your needs. AM "fits" my needs.  I like to work on radios and bring them back to life. I like to hear them sound like I remember when I listened late at night in the early 60's to broadcast stations drifting in. I like the sound of the mode.
  I have tried and been successful at satellite (Oscar 10 and 13), was into packet when it started, built and maintained an ATV repeater, use SSB, FM, and have used digital voice. But, nothing gives me the most pleasure for the bucks spent or hobby time invested than using, maintaining and building equipment used for AM. That equipment can be an SX-28 or a SoftRock hung on the back of an R-390A fed into dttsp software, it doesn't matter. Add into the mix the nice folks I have come to know in this facet of the "radio" hobby and you just can't beat it.

Bill KA8WTK
     

[W2PHL]

AM takes me back to my early years and my first wireless contacts. This was my first rig: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUesQ6wA4Uo&feature=related (also explains why I never developed an ear for CW)

[AG4YO]

I use CW a lot, and SSB too.  I'm not a digital person because I make my living at digital voice delivery and what's used on ham radio is pretty muck bottom of the envelope.  I started out my career as a AM transmitter apprentice and became a Chief Engineer.  I use AM because I understand it, I like it, and it's fun. 

While I despise contesting, I can understand how other people like it and am willing to live and let live.  What I can't understand is how the use of AM in a few narrow windows on mostly 40 and 75M infuriates people so much.

KY5U

[w1vtp]

When was the last time any total stranger tried to join many of the SSB clique?  I tried several time when I first came back on the air after a 15 year hiatus and more times than not was either ignored or certainly not welcomed.

AMers as a whole are much more congenial.  As Tom 1JJ said, It's the people, I agree with that but it's also the great sound -- but mostly the people.

Al