Heavy Metal??

[W6TOM]

  I have no interest in contesting, the whole idea for me is a turn off, the idea is to have fun, it would be nice to work some new stations, maybe a coast to coast on AM. Not likely this time due the crummy band conditions but another time maybe.

  I can easily meet the 250 lbs rule, my ART-13, Dynamotor and PR-1104 plus cabling, but just a 150 watts, more power would be nice, my T-368 is down.

  I'll use a SP-600 for a receiver and I just got a Super Senior on the air so the option of power is there too even if it's "light" metal.

 

[W2PFY]

Heavy Metal Rally is on February.4th

It was just an event focused on big, plate modulated rigs - you could operated whatever you wanted that made AM.

OK, Feb 4th. This is all I need to know

For me to get on I must drive 125 miles to the camp, plow out the snow. Start the wood stove while sitting in my car for two hours for the camp to warm up. Run the heat in the car so I don't freeze to death till camp gets warm. Get the generator started to provide power to all the equipment. The rest of youse guys have it easy!

[K4RT]

Not likely this time due the crummy band conditions but another time maybe.
 

If you can get on the low bands there have been outstanding long-haul conditions some nights when 40 & 80 meters go long.

[K4RT]

So here's what I'm proposing on behalf of the AM Fan's Forum

"Tall Ships in the Night"Starts Dec. 31st @ 1200 cst and ends Jan.1st @0600cst

Object it to fire up you best Am transmitter and gather around the Glow with your local Am'ers and any new joins.

Feel free to use www.amspots.com if that will help. 

But I'm a little confused.  "Tall Ship" suggests heavy iron, strapping transmitter.  Does this event use the 250 lb. rule or can any AM xmtr be used regardless of weight?

Thanks.

[WA4JK]

It's just a name go to QRZ and read the rules or better put challenge. Nothing is mentioned about weight just AM mode of phone operation

[VE7 Kilohertz]

Let's hope condx improve tonight...right now I don't think I could get out past the end of my driveway even with 1KW out of the Bauer and CCA, I can't even hear WWV. 

Look forward to hearing anybody tonight, let's make some noise. I'll be working 3870-3885 and 1900-1950KHz.

Don't forget to listen for the leap second at 4pm PST, 7pm EST. They are very quiet sometimes.

Paul

[W2PFY]

Heavy Metal Rally is on February.4th

It was just an event focused on big, plate modulated rigs - you could operated whatever you wanted that made AM.

I just cannot understand what is so hard to understand about this event? Now more than ever, guys who have old transmitters that they built or their grandfather built are encouraged to drag it out of the dusty dark corner and put the juice to it and make it honk for the enjoyment of the event. People operating such transmitters can tell us it's history, i.e. who built it and when. Most likely the guys owning such old transmitters may be as old as some of those transmitters? In my case my main BC-610D is 73 years old. I am 75. How many times will it be on before I bite the dust?

In my opinion, this is what it is all about. I also enjoy hearing the latest class E rigs, Flex's etc, old unmodified DX-60's, even HLR's annoying SBE rig. The message is clear, just show up and talk!

[KC4VWU]

Here,here... well said!
 
Light 'em up and make some transmissions! Doesn't really matter what the setup is, but if you have access to the big straps, cut the small stuff loose and fire up the heavy iron. Tell us about it. Behemoth HB rigs, IMHO, is really more interesting to hear about than BC rigs because most know about them already; still interesting though.

We'll have guests over tonight, but I'm planning to sneak away to jump in ASAP as conditions permit.

Did the same on Christmas eve, had several nice QSO's, and even got pulled into the Fla. net early in the morning. Great time! Had to cut loose when I noticed it was getting very bright outside and realized I had about 2 hrs. before everyone would be waking me up again!

...Phil

[steve_qix]

Not really Steve, when you consider the original intent of the HMR: to be an AM operating event honoring and encouraging the use of old tube transmitters from the past, not a contest. I'd bet as many or more people complained about the points system or even keeping a log. They just wanted to get on and operate.

Better still would be to eliminate points all together. Issue certificates, a simple prize base on people's choice for xyz, whatever. Reward the folks who put on the gear and have lengthy contacts with multiple stations and not the brief '59/59' type of thing that comes about when you need another state, multiplier, whatever. Give an award to the most interesting or oldest transmitter.

Having spoken with Bill, Barry, and Ray about it in the past, I certainly didn't envy them. Bill came up with a great idea, and over time Barry and then Ray had to deal with the disenchanted few who didn't like this or that or wanted this changed to suit their interest, blah blah. The age of 'everyone gets a trophy', guess it was inevitable. Bill thought folks would grasp the concept, instead they looked for ways around the few rules that existed or tried to claim they were being excluded, which was never true. It was just an event focused on big, plate modulated rigs - you could operated whatever you wanted that made AM.

I agree with you, though - the constant changes trying to please everyone along with moving the date repeatedly will kill any event. Plenty of formerly great hamfests demonstrated this.

I operated the HMR for *many* years, and have direct, personal observation of the number of stations that used to operate the event - when it was 250 watts and/or 250 pounds and 1 point per contact and 1 point per state.  I have logs from the "old days" of the HMR.  Lots and lots of stations logged.

The rule munging started with the so-called "tube points".  Prior to that, the rules were completely even and fair and everyone got that.

Solving the problem of spotlighting tube heavy metal would have been very easy.  The station with the most points who was running tube heavy metal would get the "special" tube heavy metal prize.  This station may or may not be the overall "contest" winner, but it would definitely spotlight the event with respect to tube heavy metal.  The tube-trophy is a very appropriate "prize" (of sorts).

Easy answer.  I suggested this solution a number of times to the organizers.  Silence.

I would like to see the event in its former glory.  It could be so again.

Regards,  Steve

[VE7 Kilohertz]

Just had a nice round table in the PNW, lots of good signals...scanning around 80M and not hearing anything outside the PNW. How are things back east? Conditions any good? Hearing anything beyond 500-700KM?

[WA4JK]

3.885 lots in the round table along with Tall ship contacts

[steve_qix]

Sounds Good!  Will be looking for Coast to Coast action later this evening or early next year (ha!  after midnight eastern time, that is!).

[Pete, WA2CWA]

8:30 PM to roughly 9:00 PM EST, 3.885 has a number of signals but all weak. Can't tell if it's multiple QSO's or just radio anarchy.  

Did go down lower in the band and worked several CA stations and one European on SSB just to verify I'm radiating.

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

 I hear less and less heavy metal on the air. Honestly, that's probably the true reason why participation has dropped off, not because of "tube points" or any other excuse, is because the guys that run the heavy stuff are just not around or as active anymore. The hobby is changing and more and more I hear new vocies coming on the air running riceboxes and SDRs at first, and some of these guys later on might get a Johnson or a Collins or a Heatkit to use on the air, but that's about it. Not everyone is going out and seeking BC-610s, T-368s, KW-1s, Collins/Gates/RCA broadcast rigs, Globe King 500s, Johnson Desk KWs, WWII Navy TDE/TCK/TBL/TBM rigs (my personal favorites), etc. to use on the air, and not everyone wants to build a transmitter (tube or solid state) to put on the air.

Interestingly, I think you just touched on what sparked the original idea for the event. Though it might seem new to you, this was the same scenario many years back when Bill started the Heavy Metal Rally. His reason for doing it wasn't simply to encourage AM operation one night per year. It was to encourage the owners of the big, classic, tube rigs to haul them out, clean off the dust, make repairs, and put them on the air to fill the bands with rich, full audio backed up by big carriers. Simple as that. He didn't care if you wanted to get on the air and work people with a ricebox and linear, the more the merrier. But his intent was to celebrate encourage the use of big, tube rigs for this event. Hence the original 833 tube trophy. My guess is that mounting a FET on the same board wouldn't have meant quite the same thing.

I suggested this solution a number of times to the organizers.  Silence.

Because it was a solution looking for a problem. The event was fine and had its best results the first few years, before the few started to complain that their idea of AM wasn't getting enough attention or the traditional date wasn't convenient for them, or whatever else. Oddly, it seemed to work just fine before they started trying to please everyone. What frustrated Bill the most were the people who claimed that somehow he wasn't allowing them to participate, when it was clear from the first event that you could run anything you wanted that made an AM signal. The trophy was simply a nod to the intent of the event: big, tube rigs. It's all in the record, so to speak.

We've discussed this many times over the years Steve - on here, on the air, in person at NEAR-Fest or the AM Dinner. As I've said then, the way to address your desire for more Class E attention isn't to change an event about tube rigs, it's to create another event that celebrates the great results you can get from $5 and a handful of junkbox parts.  Seriously - why not create that event? The more the merrier, and it's clear that some folks really look for an event or date or whatever to fire up and get on the air. It can only help AM.

Terry, I couldn't agree more - in the end, it's really not about points or pounds. It's about getting on the air and enjoying a hobby. Some folks put too much emphasis on having something to prove and lose sight of the original intent. I only wish I could be up there to see that Westinghouse when you throw the big switch! Maybe you can use the 610D in the meantime?

[K4RT]

An hour ago from near Ft. Belvoir, Virginia, I was hearing & contacting stations on 3.885. About a dozen stations were in there from NY to Texas and Alabama to Minnesota in a round-table with WA4JK, band fairly quiet here with occasional static crashes.  Stations in Minnesota & Wisconsin were S5-S9 and if I'm converting anywhere close to accurately that's a distance of maybe 1200-1300 km.  I heard Jay NS5F in Texas for the first time as well as K9QET & W9JMK, both in Wisconsin.  AM QSOs were also heard at 3.715 and 3.670 but they were not doing Tallships, at least at that time.  Will listen on 80m & 40m later ... sometimes I can copy AM stations in PNW & SW states when the band goes long.

[steve_qix]

We've discussed this many times over the years Steve - on here, on the air, in person at NEAR-Fest or the AM Dinner. As I've said then, the way to address your desire for more Class E attention isn't to change an event about tube rigs, it's to create another event that celebrates the great results you can get from $5 and a handful of junkbox parts.  Seriously - why not create that event? The more the merrier, and it's clear that some folks really look for an event or date or whatever to fire up and get on the air. It can only help AM.

I think you know perfectly well that my intent is in no way to get more attention for class E.  It already has plenty of attention on its own - thank you   

As I recall, someone well known won the heavy metal rally with "a rice box and a linear".  This is fine in my book.  Obviously not for the event organizers.  Which is why my suggestion was and still is - to have a separate prize for the station running what some define as heavy metal - maybe a tube rig with a transformer coupled modulator - pick a definition - and award that particular prize to that station.

My overarching desire is to have unification within the AM community.  It always has been my intent, and there are mounds of evidence to support this.  We don't have the critical mass to have a lot of disconnected sub-groups, division or animosity between AMers based on their rig types.  It's dumb to do it, and we don't have the numbers anyway.

So, creating a "contest" or an "event" that creates or encourages or creates division between AMers is always going to feel wrong to me - and to many others as well. Inclusive does not mean "everyone gets a prize" (or a prize for doing nothing), which was also alluded to elsewhere.

The most successful AM events area all-inclusive - meaning everyone has essentially the same CHANCE of whatever outcomes the event may offer.  Such events may (and perhaps should) highlight various aspects of the AM ham radio hobby including different types of rigs.  But, the overall scoring is always rig-neutral.

[N1BCG]

I'd like to offer a viewpoint that I've heard enough times that I'd consider a popular belief, or perhaps misconception, about the heavy metal rally: it's only for stations with transmitters weighing 250 lbs or more -or- running 250 Watts or more.

My Valiant weighs 83lbs and my Class E rig runs 200 Watts. That leaves me out based on the "word on the street". If that's not correct then the event needs some heavy re-marketing based on how it's being talked about.

With AM representation needing a boost, I'm for any event that promotes the mode as inclusively as possible.

[steve_qix]

Coast to Coast AM is alive and well on 3885 !  Quite a group in there for sure - right now (11:31 E.S.T.)

[AG5CK]

Coast to Coast AM is alive and well on 3885 !  Quite a group in there for sure - right now (11:31 E.S.T.)

I heard you a few minutes ago. I don't have a good copy on most of the other guys so I didn't butt in.

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

I'd like to offer a viewpoint that I've heard enough times that I'd consider a popular belief, or perhaps misconception, about the heavy metal rally: it's only for stations with transmitters weighing 250 lbs or more -or- running 250 Watts or more.

A misconception based on hearsay that grew over the years. People have a tendency to parrot things without verifying. From the very first event Bill encouraged any AM activity. The basis of the event was to celebrate large tubes rigs of the past and encourage folks to put them on the air more often. The points, multipliers, and whatever else were included to get folks who had them to use multiple rigs, get on multiple bands, etc. It was all about filling the bands with AM carriers, full audio, and fun for all to hear and enjoy. Nothing more or less. Bill probably figured the AM community would get it and make it a success, which the vast majority did for the first few years.

My Valiant weighs 83lbs and my Class E rig runs 200 Watts. That leaves me out based on the "word on the street". If that's not correct then the event needs some heavy re-marketing based on how it's being talked about.

Not entirely untrue for the initial events, at least, but mostly. You would only be left out of "competing" for the trophy (to honor big plate modulated rigs of the past, remember). I wasn't on the air for the first few events but listened in and had a blast. Other times I used my 32V-2 which, while heavy to me, didn't qualify under the description of Heavy Metal. Think of it as one of those local car clubs that has a Cruise-In event to display cars at a local burger joint. One week they decide to focus on pre-1970 American muscle cars. You have a 1973 Datsun 240Z which you'd like to bring. They encourage you to do so, with the understanding that it doesn't qualify for the pre-70 trophy they're offering. Are you going to go have a good time with your car or complain and try to get them to change their event to suit you? That's more or less what has happened with the HMR and the country in general, really. I guess it's a symptom of society's ills. No good deed goes unpunished.

It's also probably hard to re-market and event when the rules and schedule are continually in a state of flux trying to please everyone.

With AM representation needing a boost, I'm for any event that promotes the mode as inclusively as possible.

It's certainly a noble approach and when you look at the HMR overall, it was indeed inclusive. Get on the air, operate AM, use whatever equipment you have to do so. Shame on Bill though, for wanting to highlight one interesting aspect of our hobby to encourage more of it. I know Steve/QIX started the AM Transmitter Rally a few years back and I think discovered right away that even a simple event takes time to organize and apparently results take even longer to compile. Start adding more awards, categories, or other exceptions and I bet you'd quickly become overwhelmed. That event seems to have dropped off as well.

Congrats on the Trans-Atlantic celebration event - sounds like you knocked it out of the park. It's great to see our history remembered and appreciated as it should be. Thankfully the First Trans-Atlantic SSB group didn't have time to organize a protest to include them. 

Happy New Year to all, glad to hear that some folks got on the air last night to have some AM fun even without an event or promise of points, awards, whatever else. That's what it should be like every night, every weekend.

[VE7 Kilohertz]

Coast to Coast AM is alive and well on 3885 !  Quite a group in there for sure - right now (11:31 E.S.T.)

Well I huffed and I puffed and blew 800W carrier out into the ether from the Bauer but nobody heard me..I could hear about 50% of the group, some quite strong, but couldn't bust in. Ted, KC3OL was the strongest and we had a brief contact but that was it.

Maybe try again today.

[steve_qix]

The AM Transmitter Rally was essentially what the Heavy Metal Rally should have been (and could be).  Everyone had a shot at "winning", but the event highlighted various special categories.  I offered the folks at ER free use of my logging software, back end server and other technical and logistical support to make the HMR easier to manage, and easier for participants to send in logs, but I never got a response.

The AMTR was the most successful AM operating event, at least since I've been a ham, that I have ever seen.  There were more logs sent in, and more stations logged than any other AM event that I've heard of in my more than 40 years of being a ham.

The results weren't actually that difficult to compile because I wrote software to do the heavy lifting, however I was one person who at the time had two jobs and kids at home, and something had to give    So time was very tight at the time.  I have much more time now!

[Steve - K4HX]

The participation in the first several years of HMR were the largest by far. There was activity on at least 5 different bands, sometimes with 5-6 different groups on simultaneously. Bob, ZM dominated the first year and operated nearly exclusively on 160 meters. You'd never win doing that now.

I think these activities were part of an era and the era has passed. Hopefully, I'm wrong.

[Opcom]

I'd like to offer a viewpoint that I've heard enough times that I'd consider a popular belief, or perhaps misconception, about the heavy metal rally: it's only for stations with transmitters weighing 250 lbs or more -or- running 250 Watts or more.

My Valiant weighs 83lbs and my Class E rig runs 200 Watts. That leaves me out based on the "word on the street". If that's not correct then the event needs some heavy re-marketing based on how it's being talked about.

With AM representation needing a boost, I'm for any event that promotes the mode as inclusively as possible.

83 Lbs is heavy enough for me. I don't want to pick it up, that's what my helper is for. The Valiant is oddly about the same weight as my 'ricebox' and NCL2000 together. I don't move that NCL around much either.. The really big stuff is on casters.

If it's making AM or even a carrier and one side band and I can hear it, it's qualified in my book.

There is a limit to the number of big heavy transmitters that exist. Part of the limit is what was built and is already 30-70 years old and the other part of the limit is what it cost to build one today and what parts are around to offset that expense. Let them be held forth as goals for the devout and as interest-makers.

Lastly, how much ruckus there would there be if the receiver had to also be a 40-80 Lb tube unit  - that is an even harder limit if one wants the best performance as there are only so many R390s and similar performers. When was the last time someone built something of that class themselves?

I agree it should be open to all AM stations and I agree that the 'heavy metal' content is an important anchor to the event although 'plate modulated' seems more of that spirit to me, because it effectively doubles the weight of what would otherwise be there, making it 'heavy' in relative terms.

[Pete, WA2CWA]

I agree it should be open to all AM stations and I agree that the 'heavy metal' content is an important anchor to the event although 'plate modulated' seems more of that spirit to me, because it effectively doubles the weight of what would otherwise be there, making it 'heavy' in relative terms.

It has always been open to ALL AM stations. As Todd pointed out:

"From the very first event Bill encouraged any AM activity. The basis of the event was to celebrate large tubes rigs of the past and encourage folks to put them on the air more often. The points, multipliers, and whatever else were included to get folks who had them to use multiple rigs, get on multiple bands, etc. It was all about filling the bands with AM carriers, full audio, and fun for all to hear and enjoy. Nothing more or less."

Like one of these babies:



Or one of these, etc.: