Unusual cross-mode QSO on 10M

[WA2OLZ]

There was little activity on 10M AM yesterday evening so I was just twirling the dial downward to see what may have been going on outside the AM window. What jumped out was a pileup in the SSB region with lots and lots of stations calling. It turns out the station all wanted to work was KH6NX on Oahu, HI. He was a solid S9+5 in NJ. I listened to the chaos for awhile and decided, hey, why not give it a try.

I carefully zero beat the Valiant to his frequency and gave a call, mentioning I was on A.M. He came right back and we had a bit more than the usual "5X9, 73, QRZ" QSO. He said he could not even tell I was on AM and it sounded as if he was really surprised. Also gave me an S7 report. We chatted briefly but I cut it off as others were waiting t talk to him.

I've done CW to AM in the distant past but this was my first AM to SSB QSO.

FWIW
73
Jack
WA2OLZ

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Good job, Jack. You did it right - zero beat so there's no carrier and away you go. I bet you sounded better than the other stations, too.

I know a number of the crew have made numerous cross-mode (AM/SSB) contacts down in the 80m portion in recent years. Quite often calling CQ results in someone tuning you in and assuming you're on SSB (what's that funny squeal?) or because they're mobile or on a rig that doesn't have AM, but still want to make a contact. Sometimes it results in the person discovering or re-discovering AM. Maybe you've piqued his interested to try it out at some point. You never know!

[AJ1G]

I remember making many cross mode CW to phone QSOs with DX stations on 15 meters when I was a Novice. Many of the DX stations on phone would say they were tuning and listening for US novices on C!W during their CQs.

[Pete, WA2CWA]

If I'm working a contest, at break time for fun and giggles, I flip over to the AM mode and work a number of SSB contest stations AM to SSB. Some get it; others don't care; it's just a contest point. What's even more exciting is working cross-band. Back in the "good of days" of the 80's, when a lot of European countries still didn't have a 6 meter allocation, we would work cross-band 6 to 10 meters.