I for one would like to see 5-land AM activity on 3870. We seem to have a
very active, if few in number, contingent of SSB operator(s) on the West
Coast Calling Frequency. Where are AM operators? There is only one
station
from Oklahoma who checks in regularly to the West Coast AMI net,
Wednesday's
at 8:00pm, 7:00pm Central Time. He also participates in groups that form
on
other nights of the week.
If there are > 100 stations operating AM in Texas, why none on 3870?
73 de Bill, AB6MT
I'd also like to hear more AM activity from 5-land in the new Extra class
portion of 75m. From the day of the band expansion, AM'ers have attempted
to congregate near both sides of the 3700 kc/s boundary, in the upper part
of the Extra segment and lower part of the Advanced segment. There was much
enthusiam and much AM activity during the first couple of weeks after the
expansion, but as the novelty wore off, AM activity down there has become
very sparse, and most of the AM activity has migrated back up the 3870-90
kc/s "ghetto". I frequently call "CQ AM", but most of my responses are from
SSB operators who decided to give AM a try, sometimes for the very first
time. Many of these have turned out to be very interesting and enjoyable
QSO's, and some of these operators have expressed interest in continuing to
participate in AM activity now that they have experienced it. However, I
would like to hear more activity by the AM regulars in that part of the
band.
Now, there is a contingent of rabid, anti-AM, Extra class operators in
5-land, many from the Houston area, who just fire right up on top of any
existing AM QSO they choose, and then proceed to gripe about the AM QRM. I
call them a dead-air group, because one of their tactics is to simply
monitor the frequency and not transmit, for periods ranging anywhere from 20
minutes to an hour or more, but just the instant that someone outside their
little "group" fires up near the frequency, especially if that person is on
AM, the frequency is suddenly "in use". I have monitored their
conversations a few times (little else to do, since I don't hear much, if
any, AM in that part of the band) and heard them conspiring to send a
massive number of complaints to Riley about the "deliberate interference"
and "splatter" from the AM'ers. I have never heard anything from the FCC on
this, but remember what happened when the "No-Traffic" net conspired to send
in complaints about Ashtabula Bill on 7290 kc/s.
Apparently most of these stations are close enough together that they can
simply talk over ongoing AM QSO's in other parts of the country, but
evidently the AM signals are being heard, because they spend so much energy
griping about AM.
If a few more 5-landers would help maintain a regular AM presence lower in
the band, this activity would cease and those lids would QSY whenever they
heard an AM QSO already in progress when they tuned to "their" frequency.
Don k4kyv
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