a.m. mode

[K5IIA]

i just passed my general today. I have a some questions about operating on 75/80m am mode. If anyone can help me out please either direct me to a link or if you can pm me your number maybe i can call someone and talk to them.

thanks
brandon.
kf5iia

[WA3VJB]

Hey Brandon, welcome !

What kind of information do you need?

1. Equipment selection / acquisition

2. Using your existing HF gear on AM

3. Where to find AM activity

[KA0HCP]

Congratulations, welcome aboard!

73, Bill

[K5IIA]

the main thing would be how far should you move from a qso to start another.

and where should you keep the a.m. to without offending people.

[K5IIA]

thanks bill. i have been listening for a little over a year. and really enjoy it.

[WA3VJB]

heh heh

I just PM'd you.

What seems to be the most likely to irritate people, if anything, is when someone joins a conversation with NO clue what's being talked about.

It's kind of like merging on the highway: Best approach is to come up to speed, notice what's going on around you, and people will let you kn.

That's about it.

Congrats on the General Class license.

Looking forward to hearing you.

[K5IIA]

i do understand. mess the whole flow of things up quick.

[KA0HCP]

Brandon, if you haven't already, I most strongly urge you to buy the following books:

ARRL Handbook:  immediately! good overall information that can answer many of your starting questions incl. general procedures, theory, basic antenna setups, construction projects.
ARRL Operating Manual:  Goes more in depth on procedures, Dx'ing, QSL's etc.
ARRL Antenna Manual:  Broad coverage of antenna theory and construction.  For when you want to get deeper into antenna experimentation.

You can buy them new, or easily find used ones.  Even copies ten or twenty years old are useful since the basic info doesn't really change.  You will find these books useful for reference for years.

Bill   

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

See the article at the link below.

http://www.amwindow.org/tech/htm/ambw.html


As to your second question, see the link below but any clear frequency is fair game.

http://www.amwindow.org/freq.htm

the main thing would be how far should you move from a qso to start another.

and where should you keep the a.m. to without offending people.

[K5IIA]

Thanks for the replys...

I think i am good to go now for a little while.

[KA2DZT]

Brandon,

Great on passing your General.  Even better, you're interested in operating on AM.

Best way to learn how to operate is to get on the air.  Get on around 3885KHz and break into any AM QSO you hear.  Just drop your call in between transmissions and the guys will pick you up.   You may have to try a few times before being heard.

After a few QSO's you'll be an expert operator like me

Don't worry about making any mistakes,  even long-time operators make them (except me, I never make any, regardless of what some of the AM'ers may say about me)

Not sure what equipment you have, but you will need an AM transmitter and an antenna that will work on 75M.  Just let us know if you need help with knowing how to get an antenna up.  You can make a simple dipole antenna from most any kind of wire and some coax cable.

Fred,  KA2DZT

[K5IIA]

I am going to mess with my dipole this morning. i have the center up about 55 feet. The ends taper down to 8 foot high.

Yea on getting the antenna up. i alsmot threw my arm out with a socket and some string. i finally got the fishing pole out and the rest was easy.

[WQ9E]

Brandon,

Congratulations on passing your general!

You have gotten some great advice so far and the only thing I can add is that you will make a few mistakes because everyone does.  So don't sweat the little stuff!  With your QTH you will sweat enough given the climate    I grew up in Gulfport MS and I know heat and humidity.

My first key mistake was made during my first day on the air as a new novice in 1975.  My new to me Johnson Valiant came with a couple of crystals and I used those crystals along with the procedure in the manual and my  Hallicrafters SX-62 receiver to calibrate the transmitter VFO.  I carefully set the VFO near the middle of the old novice segment on 40 and called CQ for the first time and I got a response!  Unfortunately it was, "WN5NSC you are out of the novice band".  Those two beautiful FT-243 rocks that came with the Valiant had been moved in frequency by the previous owner but the markings had not been changed.  I was one scared 14 year old for the next week waiting for the feds to come knocking on the door.

Suffice to say I survived that mistake and a few more over the years.  Welcome to AM.

Rodger WQ9E

[W2VW]

heh heh



What seems to be the most likely to irritate people, if anything, is when someone joins a conversation with NO clue what's being talked about.

Will that fit on a neon sign?

[WD8BIL]

and where should you keep the a.m. to without offending people.

Don't worry about offending anyone. If you operate A.M. you're already offensive. It comes with the territory!

As HUZman said, any clear frequency is fair game.

[KA2DZT]

I am going to mess with my dipole this morning. i have the center up about 55 feet. The ends taper down to 8 foot high.

Yea on getting the antenna up. i alsmot threw my arm out with a socket and some string. i finally got the fishing pole out and the rest was easy.

55 ft high at the center is a good height,  higher than what a lot of hams have.  You should have no problem getting out.

I've done the same with my arm trying to throw lines over tree tops.  I've been using a fishing pole for years to get lines up.  Tie a orange or other bright color ribbon to the sinker,  it makes it a lot easier to find the weight when it comes down.

Fred,  KA2DZT

[W1IA]

Congrats Brandon! Just jump on any QSO on 3.885 mHz and the guys will be happy to welcome you. Just understand that night time can be a bit difficult and requires some signal. A good time to get your feet wet is early afternoon before the band goes long. There are many AM'ers out there running everything from restored broadcast, riceboxs too class-E rigs.
You will have a great time! WELCOME ABOARD!

Brent W1IA
Derry, NH

[The Slab Bacon]

55 ft high at the center is a good height,  higher than what a lot of hams have.  You should have no problem getting out.
Fred,  KA2DZT

Congrats, Brandon!! Welcome to the wild and woolly world of AM!!

Just dont be like Fred and break "the first rule of the piss-weaker"
(the weaker they are, the longer they talk) Or like we do to Fred "Bang, lookie here, squashed just like a bug"   

Get out there and STRAP! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

[K5IIA]

I am sure going to try. i worked on my dipole all day. it tuned in nice. 

only problem i am having....

i am going from valiant threw a metal box withe the scope pickup. i forgot who posted the info on it but where the wire from the coax goes straight threw and you put your pickup wire next to it.

from there i go to an antenna switch.

when i transmit into dumy load all is well on the scope.

when transmitting over the air threw the dipole my pattern on scope is distorted.  i still get two bars of carrier but the postitive peaks on top act normal but the positive peaks going down look cut off. i can still see that my carrier is not pinching off but it just bothers me having this one little bug.

audio report on air is it sound fine. i know it is just a problem with the scope/pickup

anyone have this problem before?

[WD8BIL]

That's cause the antenna and the dummy load have different reactive componants.
A little retuning into the antenna with an eye on the scope will help.

the other reason may be rf pickup by the scope thru an undesired path.

[Opcom]

Good job Brandon. On or off the air, AM means fun and manly electronic equipment.

[WBear2GCR]

The answer to one of your original questions depends a little on your signal strength and the signal strength of nearby stations. BUT assuming that things are Q5 on all sides, then 7kHz is about the minimum distance between carrier frequencies that is good, sometime 5kHz happens, and 10kHz is more betterer, beyond that, unless you have HF splatter or artifacts (no one EVER has them!) you are essentially "invisible".

But as a new station, if you can easily break into existing QSOs then you've got enough signal strength and a good ant... so after that calling CQ on a "dead band" or open frequency would make sense... also try to start out at times when propagation is good, but the freqs are not too crowded with "tall ships". Nothing much is worse or more frustrating for the operator than when a weak station trying to break into a busy QSO dominated by stations with real power and good antennas. But even then, if its not Saturday night, up here in the Northeast plenty of mobiles and newbies get in all the time...

Congrats on your license! Enjoy!

            

                          _-_-bear


PS. be cautious about what these folks here tell you, they can be misleading. For example, you do not need to buff antenna wax at all. You did put it on your dipole??

[K5IIA]

no, i'm have to look on ebay for some. hahahah

[K5UJ]

Brandon congratulations and welcome; I'll be looking for you on 75 or 160 this fall/winter.  I am still trying to figure this stuff out myself so welcome to the club  Your question about the flat tops got me studying again. 

Rob

[K5IIA]

well i made my first contact. w5dud

then the valiant had a small fire.

there are two pairs of mica caps seriesed to ground off the back of the band switch. well one pair didnt make it.

i'm goan to see if i can figure out how to post a picture.