Now we're talkin'!

[KA9MOT]

I made my first AM contact on 3.885 W8GPA, W0VMC, K9GAS. What an awesome bunch of guys. I hope this doesn't lead to an expensive addiction to old AM rigs.... I there a 12 step program for that?

[XE1/N5AL]

Now all you need is one of those monster, class-A, multi-kilowatt amps that occupy the space of a few filing cabinets and can double as a shack space heater. Oh yeah, it has got to have lots of meters and big knobs. Call the electric company and place an order for three-phase, 208 VAC to the shack!

[kb2vxa]

K9GAS, yup, blame it on the dog. (;->) You have found the hideout of the AM Gangstas, a great bunch of guys who have an island all their own. http://www.amfone.net/Amforum/index.php Class A is wasteful big time, if you can't build a Class E solid state rig go with a big tube with handles modulated by two more. Eh, 230V single phase at about 40A should handle it. Now take a close look at who is in that picture on the wall, you'll recognize him on the air because he speaks a language all his own.

[X-Rated]

Find a deserted broadcast AM tower and load that baby on 160.

[X-Rated]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/evvsterc/3640425144/lightbox/

http://w4neq.com/htm/gates.htm

[X-Rated]

They mention Don, W4KYV in there but I can't find him in the FCC website. What happened to him?

[W3WN]

They mention Don, W4KYV in there but I can't find him in the FCC website. What happened to him?
There's a reference to a Floyd A. Berry W4KYV circa 1960 on the Buckmaster site.
Floyd A. Berry, W4KYV:1960
800 E.eighth Av
Johnson City, TN

But nothing on the AE7Q site, which has a lot of old (pre-ULS) data on it.

Best guess is that he's a long SK who is being remembered.

[N8YX]

They mention Don, W4KYV in there but I can't find him in the FCC website. What happened to him?

Perhaps you're thinking of K4KYV?

Still alive and kicking on QRZ, I believe.

[VE3FMC]

They mention Don, W4KYV in there but I can't find him in the FCC website. What happened to him?

Don's call is K4KYV. He was the first guy I talked to using AM on 80 M. I was using an Icom 718 driving an AL-80A. Don told me the audio sounded great and for a solid state rig it sounded just fine on AM.

He is quite the character. His shack is really a shack out back! He told me all about his home brewed equipment and some modified broadcast gear he uses. Great guy to chat with.

http://amfone.net/Gallery2/v/stations/k4kyv/

I sat here one afternoon listening to some guys on 7.290 AM and it made me want to go find an old tube transmitter and receiver!

[kb2vxa]

Ah, a 60' grounded folded unipole will outperform a broadcast tower unless it's a half wave on 160.

[KC9SQR]

I'm not claiming it, but I did see it somewhere, I think someones signature tag...

2/3's of ham is AM ;)

[X-Rated]

Ah, a 60' grounded folded unipole will outperform a broadcast tower unless it's a half wave on 160.

A halfwave vertical is kickass. We have three 50kW AM radio stations in the neighborhood here. WGN 720, WBBM 780, WSCR 670. These all use half wave verticals. And excellent groundplanes.

[W3WN]

I'm not claiming it, but I did see it somewhere, I think someones signature tag...

2/3's of ham is AM ;)That sounds like WA3VJB.

[KC9SQR]

That sounds like WA3VJB.

I'm pretty sure I even saw it on here, I just for the life of me can't think of who has it
haha

[KC9SQR]

SERIOUSLY??? I can't even search for it for crying out loud lol
The following words... That was the whole damned search hahahaha

"The following errors occurred with your search



The following words are either very common, too long, or too short and were not included in your search:
2/3, of, HAM, is, AM"

[W3WN]

I'm pretty sure I even saw it on here, I just for the life of me can't think of who has it
hahaI don't remember seeing it here, but I do believe it was Paul's signature tag at one time.

His current tag still refers to Ancient Modulation, but no longer uses that phrase.

...and I really, really miss my HT-37.

[WX7P]

I don't remember seeing it here, but I do believe it was Paul's signature tag at one time.

His current tag still refers to Ancient Modulation, but no longer uses that phrase.

...and I really, really miss my HT-37.

It's our own hamguy, KA8DKT, I think is his call.

[XE1/N5AL]

I'm not claiming it, but I did see it somewhere, I think someones signature tag...

2/3's of ham is AM ;)I'm slow today, it took me a while to get the joke! I kept erroneously looking at it from the perspective of how much power is in the carrier vs. how much power is in the sidebands. But, it did occur to me that if one harbored a grudge against hams, he could say: "2/3's of HAM is AM, and 2/3's of AM carries no intelligence". It's not my belief, so I hope nobody here will beat me up! :shock:

[N1LAF]

LOUD SOLAR RADIO BURST: The weekend solar activity forecast called for "quiet." In fact, says amateur radio astronomer Thomas Ashcraft, "it was really loud. On Saturday, Feb. 2nd, there were several strong solar radio emissions including one super-strong Type III burst at 1954 UT. I captured it at 28 MHz and 21.1 MHz as it totally drowned out a shortwave voice transmission." Click to listen at:

http://www.spaceweather.com/

[kb2vxa]

"A halfwave vertical is kickass. We have three 50kW AM radio stations in the neighborhood here."
The only one in the NY market is WABC that saturates ground wave coverage and covers a large area of the continent at night. Trouble is it's not clear channel and on a winter night in the secondary contour Rebelde in Cuba straps it. The world's first (1920) commercial station KDKA covering western PA by day and eastern NA at night pulled a boner a few years ago. If a .5 wave antenna is good a .64 wave is better but there's a fly in the ointment they didn't see. Having a minor lobe at a high vertical angle at night there is tremendous phase distortion in outlying areas of Pissburg and trying to get a license modification from the FCC is like pulling hen's teeth.

Eh, Phil K2PG being a broadcast engineer copied a broadcast antenna design, the grounded vertical folded unipole. It's a half wave antenna slightly shorter than a quarter wave having the 90 degree (current) loop at the top. That gives the same low angle as a full half wave so no wonder his 1KW "clear channel" AM station blankets North America 9+ at night.

OUCH! That solar burst is the loudest I ever heard, sounds like a ton of gravel falling on a tin roof.

The glow of a 4-400A on a cold winter night is almost as good as sitting by the fire.

[NQ6U]

LOUD SOLAR RADIO BURST: The weekend solar activity forecast called for "quiet." In fact, says amateur radio astronomer Thomas Ashcraft, "it was really loud. On Saturday, Feb. 2nd, there were several strong solar radio emissions including one super-strong Type III burst at 1954 UT. I captured it at 28 MHz and 21.1 MHz as it totally drowned out a shortwave voice transmission."

I'm not sayin' it was aliens, but...

[XE1/N5AL]

That's an impressive recording. Even a $10k radio is not going to have a button to blank that noise!