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Author Topic: AM Rally going on April 1st - 2nd on HAM bands. No April Fools here.  (Read 2121 times)

Offline ThaDood

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        For those of you that have AM only SW receiver, this might be of interest. An AM only rally contest, [www.amrally.com] I plan to try to make a few contacts. Thus far, I've had some nice AM QSO's running less than a 20W carrier on a rice box, a Kenwood TS-2000, on 75M, 40M, 10M, and 6M. What helps me is having a D-104 mic behind that rig. That link lists most popular AM FREQ's. One set of FREQ's not mentioned, but possible, is 14.320MHz - 14.330MHz on 20M. And in some of the AM threads, there seems to be confusion as to where to operate AM on the 2M band. My $0.02 worth here? 144.250MHz - 144.270MHz. Below that is SSB'ers, while above that is propagational beacons. Enjoy and Happy AM mode DX'ing!
A war is never really over. When you believe that it is, all that has been accomplished is the planting of the seeds for the next, eventual, conflict.

Offline Terry

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I was pleasantly surprised with what 25 watts would do on 40 AM. Plan to be on again tonight. I was also pleased that my linear sounded OK. About 300 watts AL-84. Lots of Heathkit rigs and a number of converted broadcast transmitters out there. Fun times. It has been almost 50 years since my last AM contact.
QTH Florida's Treasure Coast, near Stuart 100 mi N of Miami Grid locator EL97uf
Equipment: Kenwood TS-480SAT, R-600, Yaesu FT-857D, R. S. SW portable (Sangean), R.S. Pro-106 Scanner 25-1300 MHz, HyGain 18AVQII, M2 6M 3 el beam, Misc verticals and dipoles
73,
Terry

Offline Token

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And in some of the AM threads, there seems to be confusion as to where to operate AM on the 2M band. My $0.02 worth here? 144.250MHz - 144.270MHz. Below that is SSB'ers, while above that is propagational beacons. Enjoy and Happy AM mode DX'ing!

The "traditional" AM calling freq is 144.4 MHz, although some areas used 144.45 and 144.425.  However APRS moved in right next to 144.4 and can mess with that freq, and there is the whole OSCAR subband thing.  Locally we still use 144.4 occasionally, however you might find us on 2 meter AM from 144.25 up to 144.45, and even 144.5 or 146.500.  Convention is nice, but remember AM is legal anyplace FM is, and if you apply the same rules as FM simplex, make sure you are not stomping on anyone / thing, there is no reason you can't use AM anywhere you want.

And yeah, we work 2 AM often.  We have a "vintage" night at least once a month, old gear for the most part and odd bands / modes, but anyone is invited to join in, even on a rice burner if it supports the mode.

T!
T!
Mojave Desert, California USA

 

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