That's a good question.... is it easier to make contacts on 75M AM using low power NOW than back in the 60's?
Well, I do remember running an HT-32 in 1967 for about six months running "17" watts of carrier and working lots of guys on 75M in the day. But I think nighttime was a different story simply because of so many areas coming in at once. ie, during the day, there is a quiet band. But at night there may be layers of QSO's from many districts, so you need a bigger signal to hold your own locally. Just like the AM BC band.
I don't remember the spacing that we used to use. Was it closer, like 4kc because of the popular 1960's 300-3kc AM "talkpower" fad? That sure would make it more difficult. But, today, you will see AM stations usually spread out 6kc or more apart, so that makes it easier with lower power. Also, I notice a great respect for AM QSO's that are within 600 miles ot so. ie, if a QSO is going happening on 3880 in W8-land at night, the W1's will usually not start up on frequency, rather go up to 3885, or wherever.
I still like to space things out 8kc minimum during the day, but find 5kc spacing can be tolerated during the winter nights, simply cuz the band is long and locals are weaker by as much as -20db+.
There probably ARE less stations on the air now than the 60's too. There's no new generation coming up that used to fill the airwaves [like we used to be] and the internet has robbed some. And the dying off of the buzzards. For the first time in decades, you can now tune around the 75M phone portion and find huge gaps with no QSOs going. Even 15 years ago, you could sometimes hear several ssb groups going at once in different districts, toleraing each other. I rarely hear that anymore at night.
I suppose in a way we should be thankful for the extra room. If it were the opposite, we would be complaining about that too...
T
