Getting started in AM

[K5QED]

Greetings to the group!

I have been listening to various AM nets on weekend mornings and like what I hear.

Would love to get on the air, possibly with some vintage gear, and wondering what the best approach would be.

I currently have a Kenwood TS-590, but it would only do around 25W in continuous carrier mode.

Currently have an inverted "V' hung from my tower, but am considering putting up a vertical, either the  Butternut (that is in pieces since my last move) or possibly something built from a couple of Rohn 25 sections with an aluminum section on top to extend to 1/4 WL.

Not too concerned about the antenna, as I have a 1 acre lot in a semi-rural area, but wondering which way to go with the TX / RX?

Is it still possible to get the iron for a homebrew tube rig, including power xformr? Seems like a lot of collecting would be needed before something workable could be assembled.

Other option is to wait for something more complete to come on the market but seems that the good stuff gets snapped up quickly.

Am open to consider purchase of partial or complete TX if anyone has something for sale.


As you can see, I have lots of questions...

Thanks and 73
Charles
K5QED
Valier, IL

[Pete, WA2CWA]

A TS-590 into a linear would work fine on AM. A TS-590 sounds great on AM. What experience to you have in homebrewing and working/building with lots of high voltages present? Scrounging for parts is not that difficult and lots of suitable parts for purchase are available on Ebay and other vendors. Mid range transmitters (100 to 200 watt - Johnsons, Heathkits, Collins, etc.) come up for sale all the time. Likewise, vintage receivers pop up all over the place for sale too. While vintage are great and keep your hands and fingers busy on the operating position and on the workbench, there are many current transceivers on the market today that provide excellent AM signals.

[KD6VXI]

Complete transmitters are listed in St Louis for sale in  links section.

Check out class e.   Easy to build,  no esoteric xformers or reactors.  

If I can build one,  so can you!   :-)

--Shane
KD6VXI

[n4joy]

Hi, Ken.

I started out in AM with my Icom 751 (sounded good when adjusted correctly) and learned by talking with fellow AMers on the air and researching on the net; this forum has been extremely helpful.  You don't need to transmit a 375 watt carrier and operate high priced collectable AM gear to get active and on the air.  I hear regulars using T-60s, DX-40s, (I regularly use my trusty carrier controlled HT-40) and other "novice" type boat anchors.  I started small and worked up as I became more comforable working on boat anchors.

Give your Kenwood a try in the meantime and enjoy AM!  I used to adjust my 751 for 25 watts output and reduce the mic gain for minimal to no ALC swing.  On air reports were very good!  

Chris

[WBear2GCR]

The vertical will likely work best for DX/long-haul stuff.
You will need a lot, lot, lot of radials.
Skip the Butternut dummy load.

The 25watt thing doesn't really fly except for local stuff that being <100miles and under good conditions.

Imo, the minimum is a 100watt plate modulated rig, or that Kenwoody with a Linear to bring it up to a 100 watt carrier. The keydown/CW carrier level needs to be 25% of max when modulated (for "Rice Box" rigs).

The typical 100 watt rig being Apache, DX-100, Valiant, ValiantII, etc...

The idea is to get started... then you'll see what you like.

Dunno about any AM "nets", but ok... maybe up here the "carrier net" and maybe the one run by the Antique Wireless Assoc... but I'm in the NE. I'm wary of "nets".

[Pete, WA2CWA]

Nets are not designed to engage in typical conversations. 20 people check into a net. You're the first one on the list. You make a 2 or 3 minute AM transmission. Then you wait for the next 19 to make a transmission. Since AM'ers are not generally known for making only 30 second transmissions, you could be waiting 30, 45, 50 minutes or more before you make your next transmission if they have a 2nd go around. The odds of some remembering what you said and/or if you asked some specific question are generally slim.

That's why CQ CQ de xxxxxx was invented so you can have one on one conversations and/or a small roundtable (2 or 3 at a time). 

[n4joy]

The 25watt thing doesn't really fly except for local stuff that being <100miles and under good conditions.

Imo, the minimum is a 100watt plate modulated rig, or that Kenwoody with a Linear to bring it up to a 100 watt carrier. The keydown/CW carrier level needs to be 25% of max when modulated (for "Rice Box" rigs).

The typical 100 watt rig being Apache, DX-100, Valiant, ValiantII, etc...

I have to disagree on power.  I've had great success on 10 and even 20 meters with ~25 watts or less (ten meters in particular).  Eighty will be a problem becuase of noise and competition with other stations, but I regularly hear stations using modest set-ups on 40.  I've worked numerous states with my HT-40 on 10 meters.

[KX5JT]

Low power on the low bands can be a bit frustrating but you can certainly make some contacts.  Early this morning I worked quite a few stations and one of them was several hundred miles out two states away from me working with 18 watts (Yaesu FT-857D)  into a dipole on 3.885 Mc's.    He was actually 10 over S9 around 4 am this morning.  There were no static crashes and that certainly helped.  As you go up in bands less and less power is required but low power (less than 100 watt carrier) can certainly be an exercise in patients!  Give it a try anyway!

73 de KX5JT

[WBear2GCR]

I made the presumption that the OP was talking 75m AM phone.

Of course you can do with lower power on 15 & 10...

And, at 4AM in the morning (night) all bets are off depending on the prevalent conditions.
What were you doing up at that time?

I regularly hear an AM QSO from what I think is "down south" at that time, fading in and out...

                       _-_-

[KX5JT]

I'm a night owl.   I work 7pm to 7am and tend to keep similar hours on my off night.  It does make for great operating..several groups operate at different time slots overnight.  There's the 11pm to 2 or 3am retired/disabled/night shift workers and others....then the early morning 3 to 5 am crowd that get up real early before their early jobs....then the 5 am group around Florida and the southeast...the the 6 am Texas Oklahoma crowd....

75 meter AM window rarely sleeps in the south after dark.   It's not overly crowded and the band is often great when lightning is down.  Even WA1KNX Deano in AZ or WA3QGD in WA state can be heard across the nation!

[kb3ouk]

Low power can do ok on 75 once everything calms down after 10:30ish. I often get on with just a barefoot icom 718 and work guys up in New England from south central PA with it. From about 6 pm (eastern time) to 10 or 10:30 the band is still settling down for the night and things can get a little crowded with all of the SSB traffic, but after 10:30 most people seem to shut down for the night and the band seems to have settled down, so things get easy to work with low power. Now once I get my homebrew rig on the air that will be a different story, the 180 to 200 watts that thing should put out ought to make operating earlier in the evening a little easier.

[Steve - K4HX]

Don't forget about 40 meters in the day time. Low power is often quite useable.

[KX5JT]

Indeed and 15 meter AM late morning until sunset (at least it's still holding up at this point, might go away at the bottom of the cycle..)... doesn't take much power on 15 or 10 when it opens.

[WD8BIL]

I think you'll have more fun with dipoles at modest heights, if possible.

25 to 40 feet for 40m .......... 35 to 50 feet for 75M are good targets.

I know many, myself included, who have had some fun even with 20 feet high on 75.
So do what you can.

[Jim/WA2MER]

Most of the comments are worthwhile, but ask yourself this question: Is is better to get on the air with what you have, or would you rather be off the air with what everyone else thinks you need? Good advice notwithstanding, there's nothing better than personal experience. Get on the air, try AM for awhile, and then you'll be in a better position to weigh other people's opinions. Don't spend any money yet, use what you have and just do it. Don't worry about learning...there are more than enough people out there willing to tell you what you're doing wrong  .

73,
Jim

[Ed WA4NJY]

   I had been using a Kenwood TS-590 on AM along with an amp giving 100 watts to a 40 meter dipole.  Did well on 40 and 15.

    Now that the Gonset GSB-100 is back in service,  I use it without the amp on 15 and can usually work whatever I hear.  That is less than 20 watts carrier.
  Results on 40 depend mostly on noise and band conditions.

   The TS-590 does well with the stock hand mic, no processor or equalizing stuff.   There are some menu settings that will be different for AM vs. SSB.

    Ed WA4NJY
    Bradenton, Fl

   

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Couldn't agree more with Jim's comments: run whatcha brung and get your feet wet before you fret too much about anything else. Your equipment is perfectly capable of getting you on the air, you don't need a big plate modulated monster tube rig to get started in or enjoy AM.

Buddly hit the nail on the head for aerials: a simple dipole will give you excellent results. Aside from using a tribander a few decades ago to chase DX, I've used half wave dipoles exclusive fed with coax and been very happy. Cheap, simple, quick & easy.

As Steve said, 40m is a great band to get excellent results with low power during the day. It's a bit fickle at times, but that's the nature of the band. 10 and 15 are even easier when open. 75m can be a fun local band during the day as well. At night, bring your higher power and brass knuckles unless your license allows you to get on the 80m portion (3.750 and below). 160 is a whole 'nother can of wormage.

Keep Pete's comments in mind about nets, too. There really isn't any such thing as a net these days, per say - AM or otherwise. Unless the FCC has authorized exclusive emergency use of a specific frequency as they sometimes do in hurricanes and such, a net is nothing more than a directed round table conversation where one person gets to do most of the talking. It's also a way for some groups to feel righteous about claiming ownership of a particular frequency at a specific time. Some groups are good, some groups are jerks, all of them are just having a long, drawn out "QSO". Once upon a time nets passed actual traffic and did operating protocol training on the air, but those days are well in the past aside from a handful who still do it for the fun. The gov't MARS system still does training, but uses out-of-band frequencies.

In short - don't make it more difficult than it needs to be. Throw yourself up a 40m dipole, you can use it on 15 as well, and test the waters. If you like it and wanna stay, chart your course from there.