The AM Forum

Wow, things must be getting of to an early start - already hear stations participating in the AM Transmitter Rally.

Should be a good one  ;)

Stephanie WX3K, a contender 2 years ago got the special events call W3K and I've heard 3 other special events calls as well.

In case you missed the information about the event, go here:  http://www.classeradio.com/amtr.htm (http://www.classeradio.com/amtr.htm)

and here to find out about logging: http://www.classeradio.com/amtrlog.htm (http://www.classeradio.com/amtrlog.htm)

Found myself in the shack this morning early...worked AZ, CO,WY,WA, on 1885 and 3875...20 M this afternoon..

Lots of AM action on the top end of 40M. WA2CYT, W3GL,W9T, and many, many more. Band condx have been pretty good. The big iron sure sounds great. :D

10 open here now. Worked W7ISJ/M. He was using a Radio Snack rig @7Watts!

I'm hearing a bunch on 40 here in KY wid my 75a3.   I'd holler back, but I haven't gotten to fixing my ranger yet, and I'm just starting my Class D/E rig ...

The bands have been dead here.  I tried 15 with no luck. 20 meters at 14.296 has a super loud buzz right on Freq. Must be something in the hood. Then I tried 40.  Made a local contact, heard CA.  On 3885 now.  Nothing.  Not sure what is going on.  Noise level on 80 is the lowest I can ever remember at 3SU.

I will fire up the 304TL rig in an hour or so and call CQ on 3880 or 3885.  I think the guys will start popping up on 75 as we get past dinner :)

C

The propagation has been very poor most of the day, but now all of a sudden things are really picking up, at least on 75!  I have worked a whole slew of stations in the past hour, and it will probably get better as the evening wears on.  40 was pretty good - until the broadcasters came it and that was it....

Be back on this evening, after supper.

i'm trying to find an open spot to try and get some more contacts, but i can't find any on 75 meters. gonna try 40 meters for now, with only 25 watts on 7190.

Good conditions all day. Sitting at 242 contacts right now.

5 so far here. but the night is young   ;D

1 so far here, worked Kerrie on 3873, that's it. too much SSB on 75 to find an open hole and start calling, and don't have anything that puts out a decent amount of power on any other band, which this late the only other choice i have is to try 40 meters, but seems like everyone is on 160 or 75 instead. this summer i need to get in gear and get some better antennas up and build a transmitter, something to get me a little more power out.

Right  ;)  (as Bill Cosby would say)!.  ;D

Expanded:  "R i g h t!  What's a cubit?"

Working a normal 24 hour tour today.  Off at 0800 in the morning.  Seems like my schedule knows when these events happen.  If all goes right, will try to get in on CX tomorrow.  Hope good fun is had by all.

Watch out for the Chicken Heart!

Its beginning to rain Noaah.


klc

Alright.  After dinner headed to the shack. Worked QIX on 3705.  He had the HRO 60 pinned.  Sounded great. Lots of talk power. Very clear.

C

I was on 3.885 man it was rough! Some ssber was yelling in his mic  and said no on AM going get thu my big signal...

75 is rough tonight as it is.  I was participating in that "other' contest (the SSB Sprints - almost all  if its 75m activity was between 3770 and 3805 kHz [excluding the 3790-3800 kHz DX window]), and there was a lot of noise.  20 minutes ago, I checked out 160m - no activity, 75 AM - 2 stations ragchewing at 3870, and that was it.  I did briefly hear somebody on 14,286 AM 4 hours ago.  I'll check 75 & 160 again, after I finish my VERY late supper, but I'll probably end up just prowling 40 and above for AM tomorrow.  Oh well!

It was certainly a nice evening to play radio. The 75/80 meter band was running hot with AM for most of the evening. There was a huge group on 3705 running from the east coast to the midwest with all kinds of equipment. The most spectacular contact heard on the east coast might have been Rex K0KP who came through loud and clear from Duluth, Minnesota with a DX-60B and HR-10B setup. I wasn't quick enough with the record button to catch him, but I recorded Don K4KYV with his big signal rolling in from Tennessee as he listed all the stations that were assembled at one point in time. Steve K4HX pushed the S-meter right to the edge as Don turned it over to him. In the second audio sample there's a bit of Stephanie W3K on the Ranger who lined everyone up and added them to her AMTR log. She might give Ralph W3GL a run for the big prize! Dan W1DAN and Buzz W3EMD can be heard along with a few seconds of Paul WA3VJB as he pinned the S-meter at the very end.

Rob W1AEX

Note: The receiver was using the synchronous detector and set for a bandwidth of 10 kc.

We sat around the shack tuning the HRO 60 around.  Mr. QIX is full scale on 3880 talking to Steve KL7OF who is weak into PHX. There is west coast AM on 3870.  No AM at the bottom of the band as this writing.

The slop buckets where in full attack mode playing music, cussing and playing tones ect.  None of it really worked. It was more of an anoyance. During the AM rally, the Am people tend to run things up on high power and it really shows with some big SSB crushing signals.

I tried to join in but saw some dancing of the carrier on the scope with some wiggle of the plate meter.  I cant seem to find out where the break down is.  The PS volts is rock solid.  This only happens once in a while. I can hear a slight arc.  Really shitty, I wish it would just blow the hell up so we could fix it rather then have this happen once in a while.

I will be on 15, 20 and 40 tomorrow AM and mid day with the GK500C

C

The Rally was really good this evening (Saturday night).  Lots of stations on all over the band.  Just signed off after working many stations in many states.  The most unexpected DX for me was probably Jon K6JEK on his class E rig and the antenna that had fallen down!!!  That was truly amazing!

It is good to hear SO many stations on!  Maybe we can top last year - we'll see - the conditions are not as good as they were at least around here on 75 and 160 meters, but tomorrow is another day.  Might get on 40 earlier in the day to avoid the foreign broadcasters.

See you then!

Regards,

Steve

The amount of stations on 80/75 meters did seem to be less this year, but still some big groups and lots of activity. Just spoke with Scott, KK7TY in Wyoming. All told I contacted 62 stations in about 28 states, all on 80 and 40 meters. Ten and 15 were disappointing.

Hearing KL7OF and some others on 3870 right now.

Steve, Steve, Steve, and Steve, W1E, KL7OF, K4HX, W6RXK

Any other Steves around? Is there a category for working all Steves?

75 is being kind to us, long and short at the same time. After working Massachusetts Steve, I got in a round table with the usual rascals up and down the state when Steve, KL7OF, broke in and then Steve, K4HX.  I was hearing people 30 miles, 300 miles and 3000 miles all perfectly. Nice.

The usual rascals were  Steve, W6RXK, Bob, W6OZI, Tom W6TJK, and Shorty, K6JSI, with his 1000' loop up 100'.  How about that for an antenna?

Tnx Guys...It Is The four Steves on Sat night!!!Great to work yous

I got on 75 for a while and worked KC2UFU, then tried 40 and 20 (Ellen, that might've been me you heard on 14.286, i was on there around that time). surprisingly, those bands were dead of AM activity, but i did hear someone trying to call W3GL on 7280, smashed right in there between all the foreign broadcast crap. and then when i made it back to 75, the AM window sounded like a zoo. at one point I counted something like five QSO's between 3860 and 3890: 3865, 3870, 3873, 3880, and 3885, all with slopbucket trying to run around and over top of them, plus run-over from everyone's sidebands. the group on 3880 sounded like it was in the midwest, so I was gonna try and squeeze myself in on 3878, but that frequency was wiped out from Kerrie's sidebands, and the group on 3880, plus there were a few slopbucketeers parked in there somewhere.

Why are you all packing yourselves in on 75 meters?  That thing with 5 rountables all jammed into a teeny space sounds like crap.

I was blissfully unaware of all that chaos by being part of a nice sedate group on 1883 that migrated down to 1880.  No slopbucket QRM, no madding crowds on nearby frequencies...nothing.   Me, KD8CVY, K4KYV, N8OKR, WD8BIL, W6PSS, N2XD, K8OF, W9SWR, maybe one or two others I can't remember, not all at the same time but drifting in and out...y'all should put up some 160 m. antennas.

Yesterday on 40M, 7160,7170,7180, 7190 and 7196 all busy.

correction, 7160 and the rest on 7270,80,90,96

Yeah, I noticed it was snowing slopbuckets on 75 meters, so I put the snow plow on the Class E Rig and made Kerri a parking spot. :)

I don't want to give SSB a bad rep.  99.9% of the operators (I operate SSB on occasion) are excellent operators and if they are told they are too close to us, they will QSY.

Anyway, I only have 9 AM contacts of which maybe 2 or 3 are actually participating.  Maybe I can add some more today.  I was able to work Dave VW and Kerri too on 15 meters and they had EXCELLENT strong and great audio here.

Using re-worked (audio section) Viking II into Johnson Matchbox then into a groundplane vertical above the roof that works 40 through 10 meters.  I've been doing 40 in the mornings and 40/15 during the afternoons.

John KX5JT

Big Group on 7293 west coast AM.  Anyone that needs points stop on by.

C

On 7.160 AM with several Texas regulars.

What I don't understand there was two guys on 3.885 complained about AMers coming on there trying to talk I thought well it is the AM calling frequency!

Two why set there and complain about steve's one sideband coming in on him well AM can be anywhere from 6 kc to 16kc wide was saying steve was over modulated didn't like it too me I have the scope tied in my SP-600 if don't like it why do they set ontop of a well known AM frequency!

Ran Un-accosted for quite a while on 7.26Mc Sunday afternoon Noon-2:30 or so

It was good to work you guys on the opposite coast. We've had better conditions but the band was pretty quiet on this side at 3 AM, so it worked. Hope to catch you again before the winter is over.

Perhaps because Calling Frequency = contact another station, then move off to another frequency, leaving the calling frequency free. Then again, when was the last time you heard anyone doing that?

I heard several folks mentioning 'those SSBers don't belong in the AM Window', which, like the AM Window, is nonsense of course. Anyone is free to operate on whatever frequency their license allows, even the same one day after day, if it's not already occupied. Why someone would willingly limit themselves like that then complain about someone on another mode doing the same thing escapes me. It's been like that forever in that small chunk of spectrum, and it's not mode-specific. Kudos to Kerri though, for putting out a consistently loud signal that crushed nearby interference.

The unheated radio room was particularly chilly here last night with 40+ MPH wind gusts and temps dropping throughout the evening. Spent a little time on 3.705 with K4HX and a group early on with one warm up break, then called it a night when temps reached 33 degrees.

Gotta say, it was pretty impressive to hear a fellow coming in from zero land using a barefoot DX-60B. Was hearing him with just a small coil of wire hooked to the back of a Mohawk receiver I was tinkering on inside the house. Connected with a clip lead, no less!   ;)

Hopefully there won't be any threatened lawsuits this year if the results aren't available by the end of the month.  ;D

Great running into you again John. A short while later Ken KC2UDZ got on from his mobile. We decided the TS-440 is the Small Block Chevy of AM.

This transmitter rally thingie is certainly good for AM activity. Thanks Steve!

So those weren't chattering relays in the KW-1, eh ?

And yeah, I wondered if you caught the Ø from the house.  I got a good recording of him and will render it down as an MP3 on here. He deserves some kind of prize.

Yeah, it was chilly to say the least. Got spoiled by the warmer than normal temps that result in high 40s to low 60s out there most nights. Need to get it finished off, at least enough to keep the cold out and the heat in. The wind gusts were coming through the soffit vents and rolling down onto me. The crowd was starting to build on 05 at that point anyhow, making it difficult to keep track much less get a word in. Enjoyed listening inside as the gusts rocked the house.

The K-zero station hesitated when someone asked if he was barefoot, so I thought maybe he was kidding. He certainly wasn't a powerhouse by any means, but hearing a barefoot DX-60B over any distance at night is no small feat. Bill/HG was pounding in at 25 over for a while too. And it wasn't even dark out his way.

Todd I never heard anyone qsy to another frequncy that I been a ham but I was meaning was why be where  the AMers run then sit there and complain about it!

Working a few stations RIGHT NOW on 7.160 AM.... You all come check it out so we can hold it for the rest of the evening! Two more hours!!

John

Probably better then 75 John.  Its a mish mash of AM and SSB.  Even the Supa tight HRO60 cant see clear.  40DB over of hetrodyn and splatter.  ;D ;D ;D

It is a bit "battle conditions" but my NC-300 does a pretty good job with it. :)

QIX is a full 20 KC wide/ 40 DB over on my SDR and he is parked on 3875.  He has about half the west coast pissed off as he is taking out 70 completely.. Funny stuff.  I am sitting back drinking coffee and trying to listen to all this action.

7.160 is clear because I've been on it for a while... at least it is here....
anyone else before I pull the plug?

Sorry about that!!!  :-[

Was this last night (Saturday) or tonight (Sunday)?  We were actually on 3872.5 tonight (Sunday) because there was a VERY strong local QSO on 3880, and there was an SSB QSO on or about 3868 - so 3872 seemed to be a good place to be!  I cut down the high end a LOT when I was 3872.5 to avoid sending unnecessary sidebands up to the QSO on 3880.  I actually never heard ANYONE on 3870 (at least tonight - Sunday).  I don't remember about last night (Saturday).  Last night was really, really crowded....

I'm surprised the fellows on the West coast could hear me on '70 to an extent to cause interference - I really heard nothing on '70 - at least tonight.  I just don't remember about last night at all.  Tonight there was that SSB QSO on 3868 or thereabouts, and that group was fairly strong around here - there may very well be local - and of course 3870 would have been pretty much wiped out by that group.

I'm going to be coming out to CA (Berkeley to see our brand new GRANDSON!) in the very near future, so maybe I can take a bunch of the locals around there out to a nice dinner and make up for it  :P  8)

Regards,

Steve

Its all in good fun. Nobody was seriously mad. Everyone knew it was the rally. Maybe anoyed yes. But I could care less. You where so damn strong here in AZ.  I turned on the HDSDR and saw you at 55DB over. I did noticed that you cut the highs back a bit. I had you with a roll off around 4500 to 5000. 

Some of the guys where calling you from the west coast but you never answered any of them.  THey where confused.  Several of them where big guns.  I think they figured that if you where that strong here, they where in turn that strong out your direction but maybe not :)

C

Oh, ok this was Sunday.  I could BARELY hear a bunch of stations in there each time I stood by, but just could not make anything out of it.  That is too bad - it would have been very nice to work more stations in CA.  Maybe later - I will be back on in a while - might hang in until 2:00AM when the event ends, if there are fellows out there who want to make contacts.

There was an intense interference level out here!! Only the stronger stations were comprehensible.  The QSO on 3880 was taking out a lot of stuff on 3872.5 - mostly due to signal strength disparity.  The locals were 60 over 9, and the stations that I could not hear were about S9 - a reasonable signal, but even with filtering at the transmitters, getting sidebands to be down 60dB (the sidebands coming down from 3880) 7kHz away is probably unrealistic for normal AM transmitters (which all of the folks up on 3880 were using).

That's probably why I was unable to hear any of the guys from CA.  That's really too bad - but maybe in a little while some of them will still be around!

We have a BIG group on 3870 right now.  Big round table.  You can hit about 10 more contacts if you break in.  The band is just wonderfull right now. No Slop buckets
C

I just worked quite a few AM stations on 7.160 .... just finished up at 10:30 pm so that was really a blast!! You guys really should call CQ AM on 7.160 you all might be surprised!

John KX5JT

Heya John, actually I did cruise down there Sunday night, worked cross-mode with a few guys who at least listened on AM.  Then got told later I was "in the DX window" and laughed out loud. 

DX Window?  Tell them you hear other domestic ssb talking to each other... and also that sometimes you do work DX in the AM mode too!  Or just laugh and continue.....

 ;D

There is no DX Window in the 7.125 to 7.2 range. That guy was smoking something.

Or maybe he needed to be smoking something and chill out.  8)  Some people just love to create un-needed stress!

I wasn't aware of any such stipulation either, considering the foreign BC stations just moved out of that part of the band in the recent past. Especially amusing since it was an AMer making the claim, not a big gun SSB DXer. Listened in to the great signals for a while before moving on to other chores.

Looking forward to getting in some evening 40m activity later this week, band conditions permitting.

Don't feel too bad. I had some clown harass me because I was working DX in the 80M DX Window. Go figure!