heavy metal

[WA1GFZ]

One of the bast last night! I got my rig on about 6:30 and faded out around 2:00 am.
!60 went away so went to bed. I couldn't see straight any more anyway.
Bob ZM was the king of 160 around here.

[KA8WTK]

The antenna relay was sticking and I blew a fuse. Conditions seemed to change every 15 minutes. Gave up at midnight, but I had a ball!! Great AM stations from all over the place. I was even heard in California, but couldn't hear them. Never even made it off 75 to 160.

Already looking forward to next year!

[WD8BIL]

Why wait for next year ??

Party tonite !!!

[VE7 Kilohertz]

COndx must have been better out east. 75M sucked last night in the west. Sigs were down and I didn't work a single station other than our local crew from 4-6pm. 3880 was a mess, low level signals, noise and hets, and every once once in a while I could pick out KO6NM but otherwise was a total loss. I heard K1JJ strong for about 15 seconds but he didn't hear me.

160 turned out to be the place to hang until around 10pm when our local group signed out. Didn't work anyone outside of WA.

Cheers

Paul
VE7KHz

[KA7WOC]

Paul,
I found the situation to be pretty much the same.  Tried repeatedly to break in on 3880 but the 6s were not letting 7s in.  Did manage one brief contact at 3875.  Heard 3s, 0s, 5s, but couldn't get past the 6s.  Stayed out till midnight hoping for conditions to change.

bob

[WV Hoopie]

Started listening on 40mtrs at 2PM PST, nothing heard for several hours. Did manage to work someone running an IC756pro on AM. Nice QSO and lasted about an hour.

Went out to the shack after dinner, switched over to the 75mtr band, and like VE7KHz, the band was weak. KO6 no money was dominating 3880, K1JJ was heard for a couple of seconds, lots of weak hets.

Checked out 7.290MHz next, the neighbors had the hash machine running. The entire band was buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Time for PJ's

Problems on 3.870MHz! Got some squatting transvestite ssb stations that just don't get it. Time for AM to move outta the window.  


wd8kdg
Craig

[w3jn]

I think Brown, W1NZR holds the record for heaviest metal - certainly for the heaviest receiver.  He was running a GPT-750 and a National FRR-24 diversity receiver - weight about 2000 lbs IIRC.  Dunno how much a GPT750 weighs but I'd bet it's around a kilopound.

[K1JJ]

Yes, I also found 75M action exciting last night. 

The highlight for me was at about 9:30PM east coast time when Tina/IA, Keith/HZK and I were on 3880 working the AZ and NM area. I said I'd give one call for west coast and then sign off to give others a chance.  Out of nowhere, Mike/KO6NM in LA came in at S9+20 over. It was bedlam as he worked all kind of stations everywhere.

The 75M operation I heard tonight was excellent and the best I've heard of any AM event to date! Most all contacts were short, information exchanged was brief and stations circulated from freq to freq.  Lots of stations participated. It was busy with hetrodynes at times, but that's what happens when lots of guys participate.

I noticed that 3885, 3880 3870 and later 3875 were all used.

What works well EARLY in the event is when one or two guys get on freq and hold court - work a bunch of stations for fast log exhanges. Then after about 15 minutes, they give the freq to a new guy/group who does the same, pile-up style. Then much later, things cool down and everyone just hangs around and chats, with an occassional new station breaking in for a round of info exchanges.  Mix it up and everyone participates.

The idea is to have many CHANGING operations going on up and down the band so that anyone can call in for a short QSO and move on to the next one. After one cycle, this guy can go back to the beginning and find new stations holding court.... or take the freq himself for 15 minutes by asking. It's like circulating at a party.


I limited my own total 75M time to about 45 minutes to give others a chance to play. I did hear your callsign once, Steve/KL7OF, but at that point I think I had asked Mike/KO6NM to work the freq for awhile...

73,
T

[WA3VJB]

75 meters was great last night because of the rapidly changing conditions (not in spite of) which allowed us to work stations in the 300-500 mile range but ALSO coast-to-coast.

We started with a CQ around 2400 GMT on 3870 and held court there for an hour working about a dozen stations in that time frame, under enjoyable, stable, and uncongested short haul conditions. We were helped in establishing our presence on the frequency by the tremendous, pin bending (estimated  20_{ft. pounds/sq. cm}) signals of Bob "cueball" Raide, W2ZM heard here:

http://www.wa3vjb.com/sound/W2ZM-BA2.mp3

Then, near-field signals like Bob's, Paul/K2ORC's, Dave/W9AD's and others took some QSB, weakened out somewhat, and we suddenly began hearing the Pacific Coast and western states. Here's a bit of California as received in Maryland from Mike KO6NM and Dave, WJ6W:

http://www.wa3vjb.com/sound/KO6NM-WJ6W.mp3

Signals continued to build for about another hour, then the long distance stuff faded down and stations from the midwest came up.  Here's Robert WØVMC in Wisconsin as an example:

http://www.wa3vjb.com/sound/W0VMC.mp3

Enjoyed working everyone !!

[WA1GFZ]

Paul,
I didn't have any horse power on 75 but had a RX on you guys and heard you working w6. 75 was very unstable. 160 had some dips but had a qso going on most of the night. I saw a gpt 750 when I lived in LA more like 2 kilo ponds. with the antenna tuner.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Sounds like fun. I spent a little time on 160, first early 5-7 PM ET and then late, midnight to 2AM. Excellent conditions on both ends, no static, and lots of strong signals. I heard some zero-land stations underneath our group on 1885, but we never made the east/west connection.

[Paul, K2ORC]

One of the coolest things for me last night was working some guys who'd been away from AM for a long time. They'd heard all the AM action on 75 meters and decided to try to work a few stations.  Some were using riceboxes, but others trotted out some of the old gear.

Paul WA3VJB and I were chatting at one point when a guy checked in who'd decided to fire up his long dormant Apache.  He was using his ricebox as the receiver.  He said he'd not been on AM for years, and he seemed to be having a ball.  Hopefully, a few of these guys will start to spend more time on AM. 

Condx at times -- at least on 75 meters -- were changing almost minute to minute.  I had the xmtr ready to go on 160, too, but ended up just listening for an hour or so to several interesting QSOs before heading back up to 75m.

I closed out my Heavy Metal 2005 evening a bit after1:00am local and fell into bed exhausted but quite happy. 

As others have said, it was a good night, in spite of conditions.  Working Mike KO6NM and Dave WJ6W out in California was great, but as noted, the best part of the Heavy Metal Rally for me this year was getting the chance to work the guys who were rediscovering AM. 

Happy New Year to all on The AM Forum!  It's hard to believe that 2005 is over.