Hi Pat!

Thanks for your below.  I really appreciate you telling me where (what
bands) and when (night) to troll around to hear AM transmissions!  As a
furtherance of this, indeed I notice that the 10M band seems to "close" for
me at night; at least where I live in Los Angeles and in USB.  Might what
you say below mean that transmissions on this band in the evening would be
better in AM rather than USB?

73,
Richard KK6MRH

-----Original Message-----
From: For blind ham radio operators [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Pat Byrne
Sent: Saturday, November 22, 2014 10:17 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: A Primer on the AM Mode

Richard,
A M is the way we used to comminicate via voice on the ham bands, likely
long before you were born!  Not to begin a long, old fart rave about the
mode, but it was the way that things were in the late fifties when I got
licensed.  However, single sideband was coming along then and eventually A M
lost favor.  The cons are that it takes up at least double the bandwidth of
a voice comunication using both sidebands.  And, watt for watt it takes more
power than an equivalent sideband transmission.  And a good A M transmitter
requires a lot more engineering than its sideband equivalent.  I'll back
away from that a bit and say different engineering and equipment.
The big pro is the possible great sound of A M.  If you listen around
seventy-five and forty meters, probably more night time than day, with your
receiver set to A M, you may hear some really good sounding transmisions.
There are a few hams still enjoying the mode a lot.  When ten is open, the
frequencies just above 29 mhz. might have some A M transmissions around.
And it is a mix of old, fifties and earlier equipment and the newer
transceivers that you will hear.
I could go on a lot longer but this should give you the idea.  Occasionally
listen on ten meters and try the other lower frequency bands after dark and
find out what there is to hear.
Hope this helps.
Pat, K9JAU who started on A M and still loves the memories.At 10:41 AM
11/22/2014, you wrote:
>Hi!
>
>
>
>As a new ham, I am curious about the AM mode.  I would like to learn a 
>bit more about it.  I think I basically understand the USB, LSB and FM 
>modes, but the AM mode is a mystery to me.
>
>
>
>When, where and why does one use AM?  What are the pros/cons of it?  
>Can you direct me to some reading about its use?
>
>
>
>73,
>
>Richard KK6MRH