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Author Topic: AM Rally this weekend on the Amateur Bands!  (Read 1831 times)

Offline ThaDood

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AM Rally this weekend on the Amateur Bands!
« on: January 31, 2019, 2043 UTC »
If you are as sick of the NFL, like I am, then check out this weekend's AM Rally on the Amateur Radio Bands,  http://www.amrally.com/    Just runnin' a 20W carrier barefoot from a Kenwood TS-2000X last year, I had a QSL request from a SWL'er. COOL!!!!! So, ya never know whom, or what, might be DX'ing ya! And, they are more than welcome, fo' sure! HAPPY DX!!!!! (NFL, you don't need my attention, or $$$$$!!!)
I was asked, yet another weird question, of how I would like to be buried, when I finally bite the big one. The answer was actually pretty easy. Face-down, like a certain historical figure in the late 1980's, (I will not mention who, but some of you will get it, and that's enough.) Why??? It would be a burial that will satisfy everyone: (1) My enemies will say that it will show me where to go. (2) On the same point, I can have my enemies kiss my butt. (3) It will temporarily give someone a place to park a bicycle. See??? A WIN / WIN for everyone.

Offline Josh

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Re: AM Rally this weekend on the Amateur Bands!
« Reply #1 on: January 31, 2019, 2149 UTC »
The national felon league's still a thing? Anyway, happy aming!
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Offline Pigmeat

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Re: AM Rally this weekend on the Amateur Bands!
« Reply #2 on: February 01, 2019, 0737 UTC »
I heard a guy running a barefoot DX-60 in the 40 meter window from Lake Havasu, AZ a few you years back with a solid, clear signal during the AM Rally. Shocked the Hell out of me. The only guys who couldn't hear him were in the northern Great Plains.

Even if he modified the thing, it wasn't pushing more than 20 watts of carrier. Timtron was on him in record time. Talk about a pile-up of drifty transmitters!

Offline Rob.

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Re: AM Rally this weekend on the Amateur Bands!
« Reply #3 on: February 01, 2019, 1257 UTC »
75m has been going long at night so you should be able to hear some good DX at the expense of local stations. Last year the rally was very successful and lots of nice warm tube generated AM signals were about.
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Offline Pigmeat

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Re: AM Rally this weekend on the Amateur Bands!
« Reply #4 on: February 02, 2019, 0113 UTC »
75m has been going long at night so you should be able to hear some good DX at the expense of local stations. Last year the rally was very successful and lots of nice warm tube generated AM signals were about.

Don't you just love the band quieting "chonk" those things have running full legal power when some key's the mic?

Offline Rob.

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Re: AM Rally this weekend on the Amateur Bands!
« Reply #5 on: February 02, 2019, 2031 UTC »
75m has been going long at night so you should be able to hear some good DX at the expense of local stations. Last year the rally was very successful and lots of nice warm tube generated AM signals were about.

Don't you just love the band quieting "chonk" those things have running full legal power when some key's the mic?

Exactly, also the multiple toggle switches cutting over to the transmitter. AM is very easy on the ears, laid back and relaxing, and I can listen to it for a long periods. I liken it to preserving and driving vintage cars. It might not be the most efficient way but it has a certain charm to operate. I often listen to 75m AM in the background while working in my shop.

- Rob

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Offline buzzy buzzard

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Re: AM Rally this weekend on the Amateur Bands!
« Reply #6 on: February 03, 2019, 0005 UTC »
I have some horrible interference* from leaky DSL phone lines on the pole or something close by, the AM DX is for the most part down in the raised noise floor.  But I really love listening in on AM rag chewing, easy on the ears and easy on my BFO wrist. 

The Rally gives me an excuse to use my Zenith T-O 3000.

*I even shut the main house breaker off and the QRM was still as strong as ever.
very basic gear: Realistic DX-160, bunch of alligator clips strung together for an aerial.

Offline Radio Station

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Re: AM Rally this weekend on the Amateur Bands!
« Reply #7 on: February 03, 2019, 0034 UTC »
I have some horrible interference* from leaky DSL phone lines on the pole or something close by, the AM DX is for the most part down in the raised noise floor.

I you run a phase canceling device like the MFJ 1025 with two antennas that hear both the noise and the station you will be able to cancel out the interference. I have been using one for years. Just a great device.
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Offline Pigmeat

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Re: AM Rally this weekend on the Amateur Bands!
« Reply #8 on: February 03, 2019, 1627 UTC »
I have some horrible interference* from leaky DSL phone lines on the pole or something close by, the AM DX is for the most part down in the raised noise floor.  But I really love listening in on AM rag chewing, easy on the ears and easy on my BFO wrist. 

The Rally gives me an excuse to use my Zenith T-O 3000.

*I even shut the main house breaker off and the QRM was still as strong as ever.

That's why I moved my shack from the second floor to the first. The phone lines were dead level with the radios on the second floor. It made a world of difference in noise levels.