The AM Forum

A vid of Pete - WA2CWA working a bunch of EU stations on 10 meter AM, as heard in the Netherlands. Some other on the vid too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjMF34S3X_4&feature=player_embedded#!

Here's another of Chuck - K1KW booming on 10 meters.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-CU3yOAS4c&feature=related

Here's one of George - AB2KC strapping into Italy on his 4-1000 rig and 4-element quad!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=72djq2kPbFw

Welp my Hy-Gain Hy-Tower Jr. arrived and I got two days to get it together before the next deluge of rain arrives.
THEN the upper bands will be alive once again.

Fred

Space shuttle audio

Most likely the receiver used. My A-4 sounds the same with the 6kc filter and passband tuning set in the center. Crank it off to one sideband or the other and the audio comes to life with more highs. Need to get one of those 8 or 9kc filters one of these days.

Pretty incredible to have the ability to hear stateside AMers coming in so well into EU. Another area where the 'net comes in handy for on-air operation.

Gee, if I knew he was recording me, I would have worn a tie and jacket.

whoa!! I thought there was an International EQ setting for 10M contacts
The audio through a YouTube feed and a camcorder mic from a Rice box sounded ok to me.
Carl is pulling your chain Pete.
The "East Coast Sound' is capable to promote AM, but look at what the guy on the other end is using.
Fred

Would probably have sounded better had the recording been made right off a tap somewhere.
That was just mic-to-speaker coupling.  
Geez, the SP600 is dark. THAT would have been the receiver for this.
Around TRT 4:55 he says he's listening in 3.1Kc, ugh.

How about this:  Chuck WA1EKV monitored on a Frog 7700, in QSO with a station in the UK :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=812-5Ttrx3A (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=812-5Ttrx3A)

That too, sounds like a mic-to-speaker coupling, yet those highs off that Flex make me smug listening to him.

Better than no audio.

It is interesting that there aren't more good sounding signals on 10 meters. Of all the HF bands, it's usually the one with the least amount of noise and QRM. These are the conditions where good audio can be fully appreciated.

Not my chain; my name isn't George  :D

I've heard some real good audio on 10 meters AM the last few weeks.

i have heard a good mix. but most good. alot of rice boxes. but i have yet to work an icom 718 trying a.m. for the first time like i do so much on 75m.

i'm waiting to hear the k4hx homebrew antenna and also the k1jj mono bander.

And some very good soundin rice boxes too.

And some horrible sounding ones too.   ;D

I've heard plenty of what I call fair or middle of the road audio, better than typical comms audio but not anywhere near hi-fi or broadcast type audio.

The only broadcast audio I've heard on 10 this cycle has been HB9ASQ.

Somebody said that my Marauder sounded "good" on 10 AM. Boy that is a fairly low standard of excellence. Some of the riceboxes coming up on AM for the first time are not set right initially; some never will sound that great, and some sound absolutely fine. Yes you do hear some pretty interesting AM from the cacophony of different rigs folks are bringing on line during the frenzy. 10M is a band that is not open enough to draw in the big Iron and may rigs of The Lafayette type come out of the closet. I worked a G76 last weekend.

I hope to hear more interesting rigs and homebrews, converted CB's, military FM rigs and the like!

I talked to a guy using the Cheyenne/Comanche combo the other day. For controlled-carrier modulation it sounded pretty good.

Shouldn't this be in the 10 meter band watch? 

Your Marauder sounded FB here, Mike.  I wouldn't have known it was a filter rig had I not noticed one sideband was missing.

Chuck K1KW puts some nice audio into here also with his Flex.  And there was a G3 that sounded very nice; don't know what he was running.

Maybe.

Posting guidelines say, "Post your 10 meter activity reports and QSO requests here."

I guess the vids are a form of activity report. They are/were quite a few days old. The idea for the band sections was for current activity report - almost like spots.

Admittedly, it's a fine line. Dunno?

It's not really a big deal to me whatsoever but I know some similar posts get moved off there.  Often the intent of someone posting band-related material here in QSO is for more coverage.  There are many readers that don't bother with the band-watch.  I noticed that a lot when the band-watch section was new.

The workbench dwellers probably fall into that category.

Ya think we have workbench dwellers who never get on the air here Pete?  :-\

not a lot of class e guys on 10 either

Aw maann!  You're depressing me!  I got caught up on 10m QRP CW (got V51YJ yesterday).  I need to get either the FT-301SD or even the Kernwood TS-2000S up on 29 Megs!

I won't touch that.  ;D
Workbench dwellers do have a place in life.

Been spending much time on ten myetros. But as of late it seems that the band is in the doldrums. I am planning to spend some time on 15-21.429 crapstal controlled . Also 12 meters. 24.975 crapstal controlled. Hint : a 8325 crapstal will allow you to be on 24.975. There is no reason why there is no AM activity on 12 M  I will be out there in radio land-Tim WA1HnyLR

I noticed the band isn't what it was in Oct/Nov as well.... even on the ARRL 10 meter contest, I thought I would hear a lot more stations out there... (no I didn't participate, just twirled the knob a bit).

Well, I can put my Viking on 15 meters.... in fact I've been doing various other modes on 15 meters and it's been fun.  Now, the question remains, how much daylight will I be awake for this weekend.... :)

This is normal. Ten meters is a daytime band. The days are getting shorter.

nice to see a video with more than just a shot of a rig

True at least for another week then they will be growing again.

Yup. It can only get better!

Even if it's only a few seconds per day.........seems to take longer to go back to longer days.

I seriously doubt "the days are getting shorter" or "the days will be getting longer" has a lot to do with the openings we've seen on 10 M AM during Sep/Nov.  There seems to be a correlation between rising sunspots and time (days) before and after (days/weeks) the autumnal equinox where the rising MUF permits these many kinds of AM contacts (especially DX contacts). Couple that with the many DX contacts I made that were on 10 M AM for the first time. i.e. they were probably there for the novelty (the WOW, I just worked guys on AM) and many probably have moved back down to the lower end of the band. I would still expect typical (not bad) activity down in the SSB portion but I've bet you won't see the Sep/Nov level of AM activity until Sporadic E propagation starts to develop in late April and through the summer months.

You are correct Pete. But all other things being equal, wouldn't the openings on 10 get shorter as the days get shorter?

LOL  8) wel its alwayss somton tooo think aboot LOL::  :D

Generally, in the real world, the F2 layer normally disappears during hours of darkness. However, as the F2 becomes more ionized (more active sun), sometimes even during early hours of darkness (beyond grey line propagation), openings on 10 meters can still prevail. Further, Sporadic E propagation, which generally tends to be most active late April to Aug/Sep can happen, and does happen at times, year round during both day and night skies. On 6 meters, which has similar propagation as 10 meters, can stay open 24 hours a day and for several days at a time. The "E clouds" may tend to "move around" during those periods allowing single or multiple hop openings in various directions. The one thing I've learned operating 10 meters and above, is that the "one size fits all" band opening scenario doesn't always work.

TNX for the dope OM.

I think this is true of any band once you look into it more or have antennas that can take advantage of the 'alternate' openings/paths.

In the South Pacific the Grey Line seems to go for at least an hour.

And Tom, JJ can select which of his 10M monobanders mounted at various heights to take advantage of the changing take-off angle.
Radio is still a lot of fun!!!

Can't remember. My mind is a blank. Does the grey line propagation delta vary, dependent on the earth's tilt position relative to the sun?

(http://solar.spacew.com/www/realtime.gif)

Looks like the spots have dropped off recently, but we have a good forecast for the holidays.

= = = =

Latest ARRL Propagation Report

Solar activity dropped this week, with average daily sunspot numbers
declining over 39 points to 94.7.  It's been 13 weeks since the
average daily sunspot number for the week was that low or lower,
when Propagation Forecast Bulletin ARLP037 reported an average of
91.7.  The daily sunspot number has been lower than this week's
average starting December 12, when it was 70, and has since been 77,
65 and 44 through December 15.

No new sunspots emerged on December 9-12, then sunspot group 1376
appeared on December 13, and 1377 on December 14.

The latest USAF/NOAA forecast has solar flux for December 16-19 at
124, then 122 on December 20 and 120 on December 21-23. Then it
jumps to 150 on December 24-26, 140 on December 27-28, and 145 on
December 29 through January 4. It then rises to a maximum of 160 on
January 8-14, 2012.