Hi Bob, Ham radio has changed considerably since I was first licensed in 1961, but it is still exciting to me. I have found to be among the AM community is like the "good old days" when we built our own equipment or converted military surplus for ham use. Granted, there is a lot of digital stuff going on and many, if not most, of the newer hams prefer SSB and/or digital modes, which is great. I don't do a lot of talking on the radio, but I do a lot of listening and the AM groups are pretty much into the same topics now as they were back when... You certainly don't need to upgrade from General Class to have a blast on ham radio, especially AM. With the new frequency allocation it is nice to be able to slide down the band where it's nice and quiet when 75 meters is hopping, but, that's just a matter of choice. I say, enjoy that General ticket, it's just as valid and carries just as much fun as does the Extra.
73, Rick/K5IAR But we sure don't need an Extra ticket to operate a 2M or 70cm HT thought a repeater. I just don't have much interest in trying to memorize questions about MOON BOUNCE or METOR SCATTER to pass the Extra exam. It's not that important to me. The PNW AM group only operates on 3870. My General ticket is good enough for that. I would like to see some 40M or 20M AM activity. I don't understand why people don't use 10M AM for local operation during this period of the solar cycle. I guess no one is interested in local activity other than that done on the 2M repeaters. I guess the nature of ham radio has just changed too much from what I remember from the 50's and 60's. It's not as interesting as it was back then. Bob Macklin K5MYJ Seattle, Wa, "Real Radios Glow in the Dark" ______________________________________________________________ Our Main Website: http://www.amfone.net AMRadio mailing list List Rules (must read!): http://w5ami.net/amradiofaq.html List Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/amradio Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.html Post: mailto:[email protected] To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word unsubscribe in the message body.
