> 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. > 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. > This will most likely be my last post, sorry about the bitter mood, just > letting my feeling show I guess. Maybe after the bands get better in a few > years, I can have a little A.M. fun on 10 & 20 meters. > > > A.M.,,,,,,,the EXTRA mode > > Bob Carpenter > KB4WEC
You don't need to worry about "everybody" moving down to the Extra portion. If some of the AM operators do QSY, it will make operation on 3870-90 a lot more tolerable. I tend to stay away from the "Ghetto" during prime time early evening hours because it has become too chaotic. Start a QSO, and within 20 minutes the group will have grown to 5 to 8 members or more, one or two of which are guaranteed to have unreadable signals. Add to that, mutual interference from another AM QSO 5 kHz away or possibly one to each side of the frequency, plus all the SSB trying to nudge in between. If the QSO's become more manageable in size, everyone will enjoy AM operation more. We need to maintain solid AM presence in EVERY segment of the band. Another segment that begs for some nighttime AM activity is somewhere between 3800 and 3850. That's within the General privileges, new General-class territory created with the phone band expansion. I often hear some activity there in the afternoon, but it always seems to disappear by sundown. Best to get started in the late afternoon before the rock-bound VFO crowd shows up. There was PLENTY of AM activity in the new Extra and Advanced segments right after the expansion (remember the AM Bandwarming Party?), but as soon as the novelty wore off, most of the AM ops retreated back to the congestion and QRM. I don't think those CW guys have anything to gripe about, since they haven't lost any mode privileges, just licence class privileges. And I doubt that the FCC would reconsider returning to restricting the segment to CW/data or otherwise reversing the expansion, since that would imply that they made an erroneous decision when they initially expanded the band, and bureaucratic government agencies are not very prone to do that - witness the AM power debacle. So if they do start a petition, it might be more appropriate to seek to reduce or eliminate the exclusive Extra Class segments, not reduce phone privileges. Time and the CW ops' complaints about the dearth of activity on 3600-3700, are proof enough that their worries about hoards of SSB'ers moving down and wiping out the low end of the band as soon as the mode restrictions were lifted, were unfounded. It can only be a healthy move for the AM community to show more presence across 3600-3750 and 3800-3850. Some of the frequencies "down below" where AM activity has been noted in the past include the vicinity of 3720-30, 3705, 3685 and 3675. I have xtals for 3610, 3620, 3645, 3711 and 3720, which I like to exercise occasionally, although I have full VFO capability and my VFO is not rock-bound to a single frequency like the VFO's appear to be on many of the whizz-bang digital SSB appliances. Don k4kyv _______________________________________________________________ This message was typed using the DVORAK keyboard layout. http://www.mwbrooks.com/dvorak/ http://gigliwood.com/abcd/ ______________________________________________________________ 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.
