Dino, > As a start, I signed up here to learn about the sport but > have found the > conversations lacking in the "beginner topics". I have > specific questions...
Its been slow lately. > > What radios are recommended? My limited experience tells me > that current > production models really lack any AM prowess. I have heard that the > FT-100D can be tweaked...but I like TUBES! 500 watts of > CLEAN AM power > would float my boat! Anything you can find. Mostly the rigs are going for premium prices these days. You can still find things at ham fests sometimes, but its best to network for rigs. There is always someone who needs to get rid of something to make room for the next project or just space to move around. Although you would never guess it from looking at ebay or other commercial places, there are a lot of AM operators who sell things for reasonable prices to other people who are interested in using the stuff and not making money or collecting it. > > What antennas are recommended? Wire? Loaded verticals? Resonant dipole, no tuner, coax fed. On a tube rig, a little swr is not important. I have an 80 and a 40 meter dipole resonant at the usual AM part of the bands. No tuning, no power limits, less trouble. If you want to scoot around, and open wire feed line setup works best but can be complex to deal with. > > Is the Globe King really THAT expensive?! Is it worth it? They go for various prices. They can run a fair amount of power out, so that is why they are sought after. They also come apart in decks for ease of service and moving. I like the GK 400 best. > > Is there a publication dedicated to AM radio? Electric radio is very good... > > While the fraternity could certainly use more members, I > don't know if you > should pick me. My goal is to BUILD an AM transmitter of > about 350 to 500 > watts with a tube modulation circuit and final. That's later > though! In > the mean time, what can I get or what do you recommend for a novice? Building is a lot of fun. Operating a good sounding home brew rig is lots of fun also. You can make it any way you like, like a commercial piece of equipment, or a rough looking thing that barely works... A nice pair of 811a tubes modulated by a pair of 811a,s will do 300 watts, 1000 or more watts pep. Good parts are hard to come by without networking and going to a lot of fests. It may take quite some time to gather all the parts needed for a nice homebrew rig, but it can be done. I even managed to build a nice tube receiver for 160, 80 and 40 meters. It took years of casual parts collecting though... Brett N2DTS > > Thanks for your time...you are a class group! > > Dino...K6RIX > > _______________________________________________ > AMRadio mailing list > [email protected] > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/amradio
