Newbie

[WC4D]

Hey fellow hammers ... my name is Don and the call is WC4D. I live in Lexington, KY and today was my first day on my Viking II and I had a QSO with WB4AQL, Mike in GA and AE4FA Bob in SC .. FB QSO ..I'm finding that AM is something that gets in your blood pretty quick and I think I've been bitten bad LOL . Please stop by on 3.885 in the mornngs and say Hi .. I'd love to have your call in the log and look forward to meeting you on the air.. I owe all the thanks to my friend Doug K4PVN who let go of his own personal rig so that I might get on the air. He has been finding all kinds of problems with my Heathkit Apache so I only had it for 1 day and now it's sidelinded. Doug is a wonderful teacher and takes his time teaching and showing me what he's doing and what needs to be done. I've listened to QSO's now for seravel weeks and I am so happy to part of a family that gets along so well on the air .. So again I look forward to meeting you and ask you stop by and say HI ..
Best 73 Don WC4D

[W7TFO]

Welcome aboard, OM!

AM.

Is there really any other mode?

73GD

[KA2DZT]

Welcome Newbie Don,

Glad you are having a great time on AM, but remember, you're new.  We'll see how you feel after a few months of hamming it up on AM, especially on 3885.

Great that you're getting some help from K4PVN. 

If you have any other questions or problems just post them here on the Forum and you should get some good help.

Most everyone here has many years of hamming experience.  Although, we do have to keep one eye on W7TFO at all times.

Fred KA2DZT

[wd9ive]

Welcome Don,

hope to work you someday. VII is a great rig

73's

Dan

[WS4B]

Hello Don, and welcome to AM and AMfone.

Don't restrict yourself to 75 Meters. AM can be found on just about any band where phone operation is allowed, except for perhaps 17 and 12 Meters.

Due to antenna restrictions, 40 Meters is my "Top Band" and I hope to work you sometime on 7160/7290, or maybe perhaps 14286 when 20 is running a little short. If you would to try a Sked on either band, just let me know! Again welcome!

73
Brad WS4B

[kb3ouk]

There's AM activity on 17 meters, Tim, WA1HLR is on there a lot, from what I understand.

[WC4D]

Well today didn't start off to good .. got on the air about 3:25 AM or a little after.. and heard W4TAB (Tab)down in TN . I gave him a shout back and we hooked up on 3.885 but wow was it noisy and he had a hard time coping my call and QTH. But we worked thru it and got a bit of a QSO in. I listened to see if anyone else was going to try this morning but had my fingers crossed that they would be a bit eaiser to work. Well nothing happened so I went down to 3.725 and was listening to the OWLS and they were sounding good. I just sat and listened for a bit and decided to jump in there after tuning up down there. I was so surprise that I didn't have to move any thing, that it was just the same there as it was on 3.885.. well that's what I thought anyway. Well I threw out my call and no one responded and I let it go around again and I tried again and again no one replied. Now my buddy Doug had done told me almost everyones name in that group and I knew some were really pretty close by. I could hear them great. So I waited and hit them again with WC4D and again nothing. Now I heard there were a really good group of guys to chat with and they were giving me the brush off .. Well that's what I thought and it came across to me that maybe this is a private group. LOL no such thing I thought. So my question for today is why doesn't anyone work split on 80 meters AM .. I could hear them fine and if they had been listening to me calling away on 3.885 instead of 3.725 they might of heard me too. So lesson learned on Day 2 turn VFO to new Freq ..and a note to self on this ... I sure hope no one on 3.885 was wondering who the lid was calling out and never answering anyone .. sheesh .. I can only hope Day 3 is an improvement .. It was still a good morning and I hope my skills improve a lot faster then my thinking ..
73 to all
Don WC4D the LID of Lexington ..  

[W3GMS]

Well today didn't start off to good .. got on the air about 3:25 AM or a little after.. and heard W4TAB (Tab)down in TN . I gave him a shout back and we hooked up on 3.885 but wow was it noisy and he had a hard time coping my call and QTH. But we worked thru it and got a bit of a QSO in. I listened to see if anyone else was going to try this morning but had my fingers crossed that they would be a bit eaiser to work. Well nothing happened so I went down to 3.725 and was listening to the OWLS and they were sounding good. I just sat and listened for a bit and decided to jump in there after tuning up down there. I was so surprise that I didn't have to move any thing, that it was just the same there as it was on 3.885.. well that's what I thought anyway. Well I threw out my call and no one responded and I let it go around again and I tried again and again no one replied. Now my buddy Doug had done told me almost everyones name in that group and I knew some were really pretty close by. I could hear them great. So I waited and hit them again with WC4D and again nothing. Now I heard there were a really good group of guys to chat with and they were giving me the brush off .. Well that's what I thought and it came across to me that maybe this is a private group. LOL no such thing I thought. So my question for today is why doesn't anyone work split on 80 meters AM .. I could hear them fine and if they had been listening to me calling away on 3.885 instead of 3.725 they might of heard me too. So lesson learned on Day 2 turn VFO to new Freq ..and a note to self on this ... I sure hope no one on 3.885 was wondering who the lid was calling out and never answering anyone .. sheesh .. I can only hope Day 3 is an improvement .. It was still a good morning and I hope my skills improve a lot faster then my thinking ..
73 to all
Don WC4D the LID of Lexington ..  

Don,

Welcome to the wonderful mode of AM.  As you said, it grows on you real fast.  Keep in mind that conditions during the summer on the lower frequency bands are less than stellar.  Sometimes during the day when 75 is dead you will hear some AM on the upper end of 40M.  Even lately that has been poor a lot of the time.  As Fall comes upon us you will notice lot lower noise and booming signals!  I have an Apache and a Viking II and they are both great vintage rigs.

Have fun and this is a great website to get your questions answered. 

73,
Joe, W3GMS   

[KA2DZT]

Don,

You're right, you can't call folks on 3885 when they're on 3725, that's not going to work.  Next time zero beat the freq that the guys are on and I'm sure they will hear you.

Try not to make any more mistakes like this or we may be forced to come to your QTH and remove all the tubes from your rig.

Fred

[WS4B]

I can only hope Day 3 is an improvement .. It was still a good morning and I hope my skills improve a lot faster then my thinking ..

Don - Don't be too hard on yourself. We all do "silly" stuff from time to time. Remember it's call amateur radio for a reason. 

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Indeed. Some claim to know it all, most of us realize that there's always something new to learn. I've been a ham for nearly three decades and learned a bunch of new stuff today working on an old transmitter with a buddy who is far more knowledgeable than I. We both got shocked, too. Just goes to show...

Welcome aboard and enjoy. And by all means, don't feel restricted to some imaginary AM area. We're all over the bands. The more we spread out, the easier it becomes for all of us and the many others are exposed to this great mode. Calling CQ is a great way to create more AM, once you get comfortable with the new rig and mode of operation.

[WC4D]

Well let me see... got on the air and on the right Freq this time at 3:35 AM .. noone to be heard I called CQ a couple of times and went over and sat in the chair and took a power nap. Well I woke up about 4:20 and tured to 3.725 and waited for the OWLs to get on board. I was having trouble with the BFO and I was just a little to high to hear them and I waited till about 4:35 and started looking and found them down the band just a little way. I let them go around the group and then threw out my call. And low and behold someone heard me, much better luck then I had on day 2. But K4FRC  (Frank) couldn't hear me all that well and didn't get the call. But W4QCU (Dave) in OAK RIDGE, TN heard the call and invited me into the group. It was pretty noisy again today but everyone at about 4:45 was quite good, must of been all them 4-1000's heating up the airways. I didn't get to talk till after 5 AM so I decided to switch antennas from the Windom to the vertical .. ( note to self ) bad move even Dave couldn't hear me then hardly he said. Of course I should of asked after my first go around.The band really start changing after 5 I noticed that yesterday too. The 3 stations here in KY were getting hard to copy and Sid WI4M who only lived less then 20 miles from me was really hard to hear. I could hear ND4JS but he was dropping in and out in the noise and I only got about 60 percent of what he was saying. I was the only one not running an amp but I have an AL 80B sitting right next to me so I'm going to have to ask how to turn down the output down on the Viking II so I can hit the amp with about 50 watts or so instead of 120 that it's putting out now. So now I know I have to use the 80  meter Windom and I need an amp sheesh. And I was happy I didn't work split today and moved the VFO like I should of yesterday. If anyone has any idea on how I should drive the Viking II into the AL 80B please drop me a line and help me out PEASE. Well that's about it from Lexington,KY .. home of fast women and good looking horses .... I'm hitting a few new NETS tomorrow and see if I can get my feet wet some more ..

73 Don WC4D                 ( KRUD KUTTER ) is great for getting any thing off of these old radios.. I love the stuff .. great cleaner/degresaser

[W1RKW]

Don,
If you drive the AL80b with V2 your carrier at the output of the AL80B should be in the 375 watt range assuming the AL80B will handle that which I think it will. A little less is good too to provide headroom.  You'll need to obtain a good match or power transfer between rigs. Someone here should be able to advise on the tune-up procedure.

BTW, welcome to AMFone, the internet version of an AM club.

[WS4B]

Don,
If you drive the AL80b with V2 your carrier at the output of the AL80B should be in the 375 watt range assuming the AL80B will handle that which I think it will. A little less is good too to provide headroom.  

The AL-80B is a 1KW PEP SSB/CW amplifier using a single 3-500Z tube. I would not suggest running 375 watts carrier out of it. I have a AL-82 legal limit amp that I never run at more than 150 watts carrier output, and even less on higher bands like 10 and 15 Meters.

Amertion tank circuits cannot tolerate high power heavy duty cycle modes like AM and RTTY IMHO. They are much cheaper than say Alpha amps for a reason.

We all know you have to quadruple your RF wattage output to gain about one S-Unit. So in my opinion has always been to get your carrier up to about 100 watts, as the signal difference between that and today's AM legal limit is negligible.

By all means, if I am incorrect in my conclusion please inform me.

[kb3ouk]

Then he really doesn't need the amp since the Viking II puts out 120 watts already. I my opinion, if you wanna be heard, first start with antenna improvements, then audio, and if none of that cuts it, them more power should be the last step.

[WS4B]

Then he really doesn't need the amp since the Viking II puts out 120 watts already. I my opinion, if you wanna be heard, first start with antenna improvements, then audio, and if none of that cuts it, them more power should be the last step.

I agree 100%. Get the Viking II at 100% modulation with a decent antenna, and forget the amp as a 1/2 to one S-unit difference doesn't matter a whole lot even with heavy summertime QRN.

[W9PSK]

Don, from one newbie to another--Welcome!

[KM1H]

Hi Don and welcome. I often use a Vik II with audio mods that were described in 1998 issues of ER Magazine, its a major improvement

The AL-80 family only need about 20W drive and you can expect around 150-175W of clean AM out of it. Maybe a bit more with the 80B which has a much better transformer.

Don't restrict yourself to 75 Meters. AM can be found on just about any band where phone operation is allowed, except for perhaps 17 and 12 Meters.

Ive worked several AM stations on 17M with an ATC (Navy ART-13) and on 12M with a Viking II CDC which is the continuous coverage model. Check your manual to see if the plain V-II covers either band. There are plenty of cheap VFO's that can be modified.
I changed the 11M part of the 122 VFO to 12M; the others I worked there were all using rice boxes.

Carl

[WC4D]

I got a lot of advice about runing my AL 80B with my Viking II .. and my friend Doug said don't do it so I guess that's a passing thought. Now I am looking at my antennas, which I thought were pretty good and I read a story on here about having a dipole at 30' v 70' I knew higher was better but I also thought that the local would hear the lower ones better.. WRONG ... so now I have to find a happy middle of the road.. I'm restricted to what i can put up due to space and a wife.. or should I of said wife then space .. well what ever. I have a Radio Works 80 Windom Compact ..this is a cool wire antenna that might need some more height but I also have a HighGain High Tower.. a 53' vertical .. I switch back and for and some days the wire works better and other times it's the vertical. I only have my wire antenna up about 30 plus foot so now I'm thinking I need to get it up higher .. how come that sounds so easy but I'm thinking it's not going to be. My back yard is kind of small and not to wide .. I can use some of the large trees we have on the backside and even go into the yard next door .. but when you get 1 high branch on one tree and another good one on another .. there seems to be about 10 in between saying your not pulling no antennas up here bud ... and topping them out isn't even an idea. I can shoot lines all over the place but the low hanging limbs will stop me from pulling any thing up so now I'm looking at another way of getting the wire and line up there. Anyone got a monkey for hire? I know a good antenna is the life blood of your station and trust me I've not slacked off any on buying good antennas I have a Rohn 45G tower full of them and spent thousands of dollars on them last year. But for 80 it's a different story and I have to study some more so I can find out what's going to work best for me .. Now my buddy Doug did say the AL 80B wasn't a good amp for AM but if I could find a deck that would hold some serious IRON and a 4-1000 we could built some thing.. several of the guys I talked to Friday morning were running 4-1000 tubes .. so that might be a quest for a building project this winter.  If anyone knows of anyone who is wanting to part with just parts even and doesn't want an arm and a leg for them .. please drop me a line and tell me how to get in contact with them .. I hope everyone had a great weekend ..

73 Don WC4D

[KM1H]

Go with a YC-156, its cheaper in total and will outlast you

[kb3ouk]

Or consider some of the various Russian tubes that are out there. Seems like those guys really liked building their stuff overkill.

[WC4D]

Well thank you both for the info I had no idea that there might be other ways to go other then the 4-1000, I guess I need to start looking for a power supply and some parts to get this project going .. I'm 58 and I'd like to have it done by the time I'm 60 at least LOL ...

73 Don WC4D