Todd, I want to thanks all of you for your thoughts and advice. Rev Don, Jim, John, Thomas, & Pete. Most all kind comments, and well meaning. First, yes Todd I'm on the air , do a lot of listening in the "ghetto" as it's called. I guess my location here in Jacksonville Fl. Allows for a north and west listing area, and a few A.M. nets that I do check in on every now and then. A quick check of my call on QRZ.com and a picture of the station can be seen, as well as comments regarding my love for A.M. I do have some success at 40 watt level and can run a small solid state amp. That gives me a good 100 watt key down with 120 to 150 voice peaks. I'm using a 160 meter dipole at 50ft with 450 ohm latter and a Johnson match box. My whole comment this morning was directed at the A.M. stations giving up the range of 3880 to 3990 and moving down to a more comfortable and clearer location .(really can't fault them ) just felt abandoned I guess. I just need to en-gauge brain and up grade but at the same time, would hope for more activity in the southeast on 3885 with some of the big guy's moving down 3880 or even 3875, just start working on a bigger hole in the "ghetto" and not give it up, there will always be generals.
Bob Carpenter KB4WEC [email protected] -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Todd, KA1KAQ Sent: Friday, January 09, 2009 1:05 PM To: Discussion of AM Radio in the Amateur Service Subject: Re: [AMRadio] Effort afoot to "reclaim" 3600-3700 CW subband On Fri, Jan 9, 2009 at 9:18 AM, Bob Carpenter <[email protected]> wrote: > Every body that wants to run A.M. go ahead and move down to the extra band, > then don't ask why A.M. is a dying mode !! A lot of "working stiff" still > have to work 40 to 60 hrs a week, and for what ever reason don't have our > "extra" but I really love A.M. AM isn't a dying mode from where I sit, it's one of the few modes that seems to be gaining in activity through new interest. Many of us who have worked down in th 80m portion of the expanded phone band have worked many newcomers trying out their Yaecomwood radios on AM for the first time. In fact, a couple days back I heard a 4 Lander using SSB break into a group on 3733 who then helped him make the switch to AM mode. He was trying out an Icom 781 and IIRC, it was his first AM contact ever. He hung in there for quite a while and did say he'd be back for more. > Got to say, I'm beginning to feel like it's a one way relationship , you > see. I'm not retired yet, and no I don't have a room full of old tube > xmitters (but would love to have )Do have a old DX 40 that I'm close to > getting on the air, and a three tube 811 amp, that may allow me to get into > a short QSO with some of you. It's really sad that in order to be "in the > group" you've got to run a tube xmitter and a amp, at 300 to 800 watts, > other wise, your just noise, and something to be tolerated with a short > reply, and then move on to another "big rig" sounding station. Bob, where are you getting your info? Are you on the air at all? If so, you must realize that some of the strongest, best sounding signals out there are guys running Class E solid state rigs, or Flex radios as Pete mentions. There is no doubt that if you're going to hang around up in the AM ghetto area at night, you're going to need to run some decent power and have a decent signal to be heard. But that's been the case as long as I can remember, it's nothing new. The 'new' thing is that we now have additional spectrum to stretch out and enjoy instead of trying to all squeeze into a few "popular" frequencies. You should be embracing this, not complaining about it. I've been a 'working stiff' too, through most of my amateur career and through all my upgrades. There was never time to practice the code or study for me either, unless *I* made the time. Once it became a priority for me and not just a passing interest, there was plenty of time. Funny how that works. > A.M.,,,,,,,the EXTRA mode Huh. I'm only an Advanced. Maybe I should feel bad for myself too? Nah, the energy could be better spent working on upgrading. Too many folks seem to want the luxury of amateur radio being on their terms, whenever they happen to turn on the radio it should just be happening in a place where they can enjoy it. Hopefully more are realizing that *they* are amateur radio, in this case the AMers who will make a difference if they're on the air instead of online. Other than some weekly AM net and the rare QSO, I'm amazed at how little local AM activity I hear since moving to 4 Land. Plenty of 1,2, and 3 Landers, with 8s and 5s in there too. It's almost like that Verizon dead zone commercial. Let's do something positive about it, Bob. I'll make you a deal: you upgrade (much easier these days) and I'll get some wires back up in the air, then we can both be part of the solution. I do need to reorganize my priorities from all that moving/domestic stuff back to radio and fun activities. ~ Todd, KA1KAQ/4 ______________________________________________________________ Our Main Website: http://www.amfone.net AMRadio mailing list Searchable Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ 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. ______________________________________________________________ Our Main Website: http://www.amfone.net AMRadio mailing list Searchable Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ 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.
