The AM Transmitter Rally is ON!

[kb3ouk]

I got on 75 for a while and worked KC2UFU, then tried 40 and 20 (Ellen, that might've been me you heard on 14.286, i was on there around that time). surprisingly, those bands were dead of AM activity, but i did hear someone trying to call W3GL on 7280, smashed right in there between all the foreign broadcast crap. and then when i made it back to 75, the AM window sounded like a zoo. at one point I counted something like five QSO's between 3860 and 3890: 3865, 3870, 3873, 3880, and 3885, all with slopbucket trying to run around and over top of them, plus run-over from everyone's sidebands. the group on 3880 sounded like it was in the midwest, so I was gonna try and squeeze myself in on 3878, but that frequency was wiped out from Kerrie's sidebands, and the group on 3880, plus there were a few slopbucketeers parked in there somewhere.

[K5UJ]

Why are you all packing yourselves in on 75 meters?  That thing with 5 rountables all jammed into a teeny space sounds like crap.

I was blissfully unaware of all that chaos by being part of a nice sedate group on 1883 that migrated down to 1880.  No slopbucket QRM, no madding crowds on nearby frequencies...nothing.   Me, KD8CVY, K4KYV, N8OKR, WD8BIL, W6PSS, N2XD, K8OF, W9SWR, maybe one or two others I can't remember, not all at the same time but drifting in and out...y'all should put up some 160 m. antennas.

[K3ZS]

Yesterday on 40M, 7160,7170,7180, 7190 and 7196 all busy.

[K3ZS]

correction, 7160 and the rest on 7270,80,90,96

[KC2UDZ]

Yeah, I noticed it was snowing slopbuckets on 75 meters, so I put the snow plow on the Class E Rig and made Kerri a parking spot.

[KX5JT]

I don't want to give SSB a bad rep.  99.9% of the operators (I operate SSB on occasion) are excellent operators and if they are told they are too close to us, they will QSY.

Anyway, I only have 9 AM contacts of which maybe 2 or 3 are actually participating.  Maybe I can add some more today.  I was able to work Dave VW and Kerri too on 15 meters and they had EXCELLENT strong and great audio here.

Using re-worked (audio section) Viking II into Johnson Matchbox then into a groundplane vertical above the roof that works 40 through 10 meters.  I've been doing 40 in the mornings and 40/15 during the afternoons.

John KX5JT

[ke7trp]

Big Group on 7293 west coast AM.  Anyone that needs points stop on by.

C

[KX5JT]

On 7.160 AM with several Texas regulars.

[kb3rdt]

What I don't understand there was two guys on 3.885 complained about AMers coming on there trying to talk I thought well it is the AM calling frequency!

Two why set there and complain about steve's one sideband coming in on him well AM can be anywhere from 6 kc to 16kc wide was saying steve was over modulated didn't like it too me I have the scope tied in my SP-600 if don't like it why do they set ontop of a well known AM frequency!

[WA3VJB]

Ran Un-accosted for quite a while on 7.26Mc Sunday afternoon Noon-2:30 or so

[Steve - K4HX]

It was good to work you guys on the opposite coast. We've had better conditions but the band was pretty quiet on this side at 3 AM, so it worked. Hope to catch you again before the winter is over.

Steve, Steve, Steve, and Steve, W1E, KL7OF, K4HX, W6RXK

Any other Steves around? Is there a category for working all Steves?

75 is being kind to us, long and short at the same time. After working Massachusetts Steve, I got in a round table with the usual rascals up and down the state when Steve, KL7OF, broke in and then Steve, K4HX.  I was hearing people 30 miles, 300 miles and 3000 miles all perfectly. Nice.

The usual rascals were  Steve, W6RXK, Bob, W6OZI, Tom W6TJK, and Shorty, K6JSI, with his 1000' loop up 100'.  How about that for an antenna?

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

What I don't understand there was two guys on 3.885 complained about AMers coming on there trying to talk I thought well it is the AM calling frequency!

Perhaps because Calling Frequency = contact another station, then move off to another frequency, leaving the calling frequency free. Then again, when was the last time you heard anyone doing that?

I heard several folks mentioning 'those SSBers don't belong in the AM Window', which, like the AM Window, is nonsense of course. Anyone is free to operate on whatever frequency their license allows, even the same one day after day, if it's not already occupied. Why someone would willingly limit themselves like that then complain about someone on another mode doing the same thing escapes me. It's been like that forever in that small chunk of spectrum, and it's not mode-specific. Kudos to Kerri though, for putting out a consistently loud signal that crushed nearby interference.

The unheated radio room was particularly chilly here last night with 40+ MPH wind gusts and temps dropping throughout the evening. Spent a little time on 3.705 with K4HX and a group early on with one warm up break, then called it a night when temps reached 33 degrees.

Gotta say, it was pretty impressive to hear a fellow coming in from zero land using a barefoot DX-60B. Was hearing him with just a small coil of wire hooked to the back of a Mohawk receiver I was tinkering on inside the house. Connected with a clip lead, no less!  

Hopefully there won't be any threatened lawsuits this year if the results aren't available by the end of the month. 

[W2VW]

I don't want to give SSB a bad rep.  99.9% of the operators (I operate SSB on occasion) are excellent operators and if they are told they are too close to us, they will QSY.

Anyway, I only have 9 AM contacts of which maybe 2 or 3 are actually participating.  Maybe I can add some more today.  I was able to work Dave VW and Kerri too on 15 meters and they had EXCELLENT strong and great audio here.

Using re-worked (audio section) Viking II into Johnson Matchbox then into a groundplane vertical above the roof that works 40 through 10 meters.  I've been doing 40 in the mornings and 40/15 during the afternoons.

John KX5JT

Great running into you again John. A short while later Ken KC2UDZ got on from his mobile. We decided the TS-440 is the Small Block Chevy of AM.

This transmitter rally thingie is certainly good for AM activity. Thanks Steve!

[WA3VJB]

The unheated radio room was particularly chilly here last night with 40+ MPH wind gusts and temps dropping throughout the evening. Spent a little time on 3.705 with K4HX and a group early on with one warm up break, then called it a night when temps reached 33 degrees.

Gotta say, it was pretty impressive to hear a fellow coming in from zero land using a barefoot DX-60B. Was hearing him with just a small coil of wire hooked to the back of a Mohawk receiver I was tinkering on inside the house. Connected with a clip lead, no less!  

So those weren't chattering relays in the KW-1, eh ?

And yeah, I wondered if you caught the Ø from the house.  I got a good recording of him and will render it down as an MP3 on here. He deserves some kind of prize.

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Yeah, it was chilly to say the least. Got spoiled by the warmer than normal temps that result in high 40s to low 60s out there most nights. Need to get it finished off, at least enough to keep the cold out and the heat in. The wind gusts were coming through the soffit vents and rolling down onto me. The crowd was starting to build on 05 at that point anyhow, making it difficult to keep track much less get a word in. Enjoyed listening inside as the gusts rocked the house.

The K-zero station hesitated when someone asked if he was barefoot, so I thought maybe he was kidding. He certainly wasn't a powerhouse by any means, but hearing a barefoot DX-60B over any distance at night is no small feat. Bill/HG was pounding in at 25 over for a while too. And it wasn't even dark out his way.

[kb3rdt]

Todd I never heard anyone qsy to another frequncy that I been a ham but I was meaning was why be where  the AMers run then sit there and complain about it!

[KX5JT]

Working a few stations RIGHT NOW on 7.160 AM.... You all come check it out so we can hold it for the rest of the evening! Two more hours!!

John

[ke7trp]

Probably better then 75 John.  Its a mish mash of AM and SSB.  Even the Supa tight HRO60 cant see clear.  40DB over of hetrodyn and splatter. 

[KX5JT]

It is a bit "battle conditions" but my NC-300 does a pretty good job with it.

[ke7trp]

QIX is a full 20 KC wide/ 40 DB over on my SDR and he is parked on 3875.  He has about half the west coast pissed off as he is taking out 70 completely.. Funny stuff.  I am sitting back drinking coffee and trying to listen to all this action.

[KX5JT]

7.160 is clear because I've been on it for a while... at least it is here....
anyone else before I pull the plug?

[steve_qix]

QIX is a full 20 KC wide/ 40 DB over on my SDR and he is parked on 3875.  He has about half the west coast pissed off as he is taking out 70 completely.. Funny stuff.  I am sitting back drinking coffee and trying to listen to all this action.

Sorry about that!!!  

Was this last night (Saturday) or tonight (Sunday)?  We were actually on 3872.5 tonight (Sunday) because there was a VERY strong local QSO on 3880, and there was an SSB QSO on or about 3868 - so 3872 seemed to be a good place to be!  I cut down the high end a LOT when I was 3872.5 to avoid sending unnecessary sidebands up to the QSO on 3880.  I actually never heard ANYONE on 3870 (at least tonight - Sunday).  I don't remember about last night (Saturday).  Last night was really, really crowded....

I'm surprised the fellows on the West coast could hear me on '70 to an extent to cause interference - I really heard nothing on '70 - at least tonight.  I just don't remember about last night at all.  Tonight there was that SSB QSO on 3868 or thereabouts, and that group was fairly strong around here - there may very well be local - and of course 3870 would have been pretty much wiped out by that group.

I'm going to be coming out to CA (Berkeley to see our brand new GRANDSON!) in the very near future, so maybe I can take a bunch of the locals around there out to a nice dinner and make up for it    

Regards,

Steve

[ke7trp]

Its all in good fun. Nobody was seriously mad. Everyone knew it was the rally. Maybe anoyed yes. But I could care less. You where so damn strong here in AZ.  I turned on the HDSDR and saw you at 55DB over. I did noticed that you cut the highs back a bit. I had you with a roll off around 4500 to 5000. 

Some of the guys where calling you from the west coast but you never answered any of them.  THey where confused.  Several of them where big guns.  I think they figured that if you where that strong here, they where in turn that strong out your direction but maybe not

C

[steve_qix]

Oh, ok this was Sunday.  I could BARELY hear a bunch of stations in there each time I stood by, but just could not make anything out of it.  That is too bad - it would have been very nice to work more stations in CA.  Maybe later - I will be back on in a while - might hang in until 2:00AM when the event ends, if there are fellows out there who want to make contacts.

There was an intense interference level out here!! Only the stronger stations were comprehensible.  The QSO on 3880 was taking out a lot of stuff on 3872.5 - mostly due to signal strength disparity.  The locals were 60 over 9, and the stations that I could not hear were about S9 - a reasonable signal, but even with filtering at the transmitters, getting sidebands to be down 60dB (the sidebands coming down from 3880) 7kHz away is probably unrealistic for normal AM transmitters (which all of the folks up on 3880 were using).

That's probably why I was unable to hear any of the guys from CA.  That's really too bad - but maybe in a little while some of them will still be around!

[ke7trp]

We have a BIG group on 3870 right now.  Big round table.  You can hit about 10 more contacts if you break in.  The band is just wonderfull right now. No Slop buckets
C