02/01/2017

Ever wonder what that "AM" button is for on your transceiver? Well, if you don't know about full-carrier amplitude modulation (AM) or have never used it on the air, you'll get the chance during the AM Rally[1], April 1-3, on the HF bands between 160 and 10 meters (except 30, 17, and 12 meters) plus 6 meters. Amateur Radio voice-mode transmissions on the HF bands into the 1960s were AM, the same mode that used to predominate in radio broadcasting. Single-sideband (SSB), a form of AM, gradually took over the phone bands, although not without some pushback! Today, a group of dedicated radio amateurs keeps the magic flame alive, getting on AM frequently, and for many of them, AM is their primary operating mode. The AM Rally gives the uninitiated a chance to dip a toe into the pool, so to speak.

A cooperative event organized by AM, SSB, and, yes, even CW operators, the AM Rally aims to encourage fellow operators to take this "sister mode" for a spin, make a few contacts, and have a shot at earning some nice certificates.

"We plan to make the AM Rally fun for everyone, but we also want to help ops who might be new to the mode get their rigs set up and sounding the best they can in time for the event," said Clark Burgard, N1BCG, who is spearheading the event with Steve Cloutier, WA1QIX, and Brian Kress, KB3WFV. "Whether your rig is software defined, solid state, vacuum tube, hybrid, homebrew or broadcast surplus, you'll be a welcome part of the AM Rally."

The event website[2]ÿ(www.amrally.com/)ÿhas complete AM Rally details, contact information, award categories, logging, and tips on how to get the most out of your station equipment in AM mode.

The AM Rally begins on Saturday, April 1 at 0000 UTC (Friday, March 31, in US time zones) and concludes at 0000 UTC on Monday, April 3.

It's open to all radio amateurs capable of transmitting full-carrier AM, using any type of equipment, from vintage to bleeding edge. The event is sponsored by Radio Engineering Associates (REA[3]), in cooperation with ARRL, which supports all modes of Amateur Radio operation.

If you like to get on the air and have fun and now operate - or would like to operate - AM mode, then you're good to go!

Participating stations earn 1 point for each station worked per band, and you may work the same station on more than one band. They also earn 1 point for each state, Canadian province/territory, or DXCC entity worked. Both stations must be using AM for a contact to count.

Certificates will be awarded to stations scoring the highest number of points in each of the five power classes, regardless of rig category, both for most contacts and most states/provinces.

"All it takes is a turn, push, or click to participate!" There's also plenty of time to dig out and dust off that old AM-capable tube gear sitting in your attic or basement.ÿ


[1] http://www.amrally.com/
[2] http://www.amrally.com/
[3] http://www.radioassociates.com/

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Re: AM Rally Set for April 1-3 — No Fooling!
By: ARRL de WD1CKS to QST on Wed Feb 01 2017 14:41:45

Ever wonder what that "AM" button is for on your transceiver? Well, if you

I always thought it meant "Amateur Mode", so I leave it on at all times - I am not a professional. Sometimes I press the USB button when I have my radio appliance hooked up to my compooter with that type of cable. And another thing, what's the deal with all of these cables - I thought radios were supposed to be wireless I mean seriously what the hell what's up with that am I right?

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ARRL de WD1CKS wrote to QST <=-

Ever wonder what that "AM" button is for on your transceiver? Well, if you don't know about full-carrier amplitude modulation (AM) or have

Sounds like fun. Pity I'm on the other side of the world, and usually struggle to get SSB over there, let alone AM. And I'm also involved in a sporting event on April 1. Has been a while since I've used AM. I even did the AM Tx mod on my IC-745, so I could use the mode on that radio. :)


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echicken wrote to ARRL de WD1CKS <=-

Ever wonder what that "AM" button is for on your transceiver? Well, if you

I always thought it meant "Amateur Mode", so I leave it on at all times
- I am not a professional. Sometimes I press the USB button when I
have my radio appliance hooked up to my compooter with that type of
cable. And another thing, what's the deal with all of these cables - I thought radios were supposed to be wireless I mean seriously what the
hell what's up with that am I right?

ROFLMAO! :D


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Re: AM Rally Set for April 1-3 — No Fooling!
By: echicken to ARRL de WD1CKS on Wed Feb 01 2017 11:17 am

Ever wonder what that "AM" button is for on your transceiver? Well,
if you

I always thought it meant "Amateur Mode", so I leave it on at all times - I am not a professional. Sometimes I press the USB button when I have my radio appliance hooked up to my compooter with that type of cable. And another thing, what's the deal with all of these cables - I thought radios were supposed to be wireless I mean seriously what the hell what's up with that am I right?

HAHA, now you just need to write a Javascript code to control the radio from a remote BBS, and covert text to CW and vice versa.. Kinda like radio tuners website for SDR, etc.. would be cool to have one to have tuned to a cw only band and have a server listening 24/7 and convert to text and let any and all BBS system telgate to it to listen in on the CW broadcasts.. more than likely be done with all the cool scripts you have already written, I've just now started digging through a lot of the code repo and man I'm very impressed..

I really wish I could grasp the concept of JS like you guys do, but guess I'm too stuupid or lazy.. or both :-) can get around it enough just to change things around a bit.. but could never write one from scratch..

I have a MultiWii flight controller on my glider (hardly use it fly manual for the fun of it) but it is based on arduino, and using it along with FTDI I've learned to do a lot of cool crap, I mainly use it for telemetry. but I had my glider in the air for 2 hours one day completely riding thermals on top of the mountain, and the glider could easily double as a repeater if I would have strapped a couple Baofengs on it..

I'm loving this cheap stuff from china in a way because I can tinker on a budget, but it's also a double edged sword.. I cannot find enough time to devote to all the hobbies I want to dabble in, so I would love to just mix them all together..

How bout a glider, or multirotor, operated by a BBS with ANSI telemetry and flight control, with onboard CW repeater that can also communicate through the BBS, video downlink of course, streamed to youtube.. HAHAHA...

Too many ideas.. not enough brains or will power...

--

Tim Smith (KK4QBN)
KK4QBN BBS

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Re: AM Rally Set for April 1-3 — No Fooling!
By: KK4QBN to echicken on Wed Feb 01 2017 23:13:52

HAHA, now you just need to write a Javascript code to control the radio from a remote BBS, and covert text to CW and vice versa.. Kinda like radio tuners website for SDR, etc.. would be cool to have one to have tuned to a

I've considered making a ham radio "console" of sorts. It would stop short of actually dealing with signals which would involve interacting with an audio interface; I'm not sure how possible that would be in our environment at the moment. Rig control and status is doable though; many radios provide a lot of info and let you change various settings over a serial port. I would want it to provide a logbook and work with DX clusters. I'm not sure how useful it would be.

I really wish I could grasp the concept of JS like you guys do, but guess

Well, not everything has to be JS. If there's another language you're more comfortable with, plenty of things can be done. JS is just very convenient here, especially when you want to interact with the BBS a lot. I guess it boils down to how much you need to know about the BBS and the user, and whether the info gleaned from a dropfile is sufficient.

but I had my glider in the air for 2 hours one day completely riding thermals on top of the mountain, and the glider could easily double as a repeater if I would have strapped a couple Baofengs on it..

You may want to check out the DRA818V or DRA818U modules. There are boards available that make it pretty easy to add a 2M or 70CM interface to a microcontroller project. More lightweight than a Baofeng, easier to automate stuff with.

I'm loving this cheap stuff from china in a way because I can tinker on a budget, but it's also a double edged sword.. I cannot find enough time to devote to all the hobbies I want to dabble in, so I would love to just mix them all together..

Same problem here. I just go with whatever has my interest at the moment. There's always something going on.

How bout a glider, or multirotor, operated by a BBS with ANSI telemetry and flight control, with onboard CW repeater that can also communicate through the BBS, video downlink of course, streamed to youtube.. HAHAHA...

That sounds like a fun project for you to get started with. :D

---
echicken
electronic chicken bbs - bbs.electronicchicken.com - 416-273-7230
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Quoting Arrl De Wd1cks to Qst at 02-01-17 14:41 <=-

Subject: AM Rally Set for April 1-3 ‡€” No Fooling!
02/01/2017

Ever wonder what that "AM" button is for on your transceiver? Well, if you don't know about full-carrier amplitude modulation (AM) or have
never used it on the air, you'll get the chance during the AM Rally[1], April 1-3, on the HF bands between 160 and 10 meters (except 30, 17,
and 12 meters) plus 6 meters. Amateur Radio voice-mode transmissions on the HF bands into the 1960s were AM, the same mode that used to predominate in radio broadcasting. Single-sideband (SSB), a form of AM, gradually took over the phone bands, although not without some
pushback! Today, a group of dedicated radio amateurs keeps the magic flame alive, getting on AM frequently, and for many of them, AM is
their primary operating mode. The AM Rally gives the uninitiated a
chance to dip a toe into the pool, so to speak.

I love AM! I'm retired in Amateur Radio activity but i still have a
big TX with 2 x 813 tubes modulated in plate by another 2 x 813
tubes with a Hallicrafters SX-100 receiver.
I loved this things. :-)


[]s ³
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³ Û²±° Mauro R. Veiga - abutre.no-ip.org:2323 °±²Û ³
ÄÄÄÄijÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ


MeSSaGe SiTTeR 1.00 - Full Version
Live Long and Prosper

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Re: AM Rally Set for April 1-3 — No Fooling!
By: echicken to KK4QBN on Thu Feb 02 2017 09:04 am

I've considered making a ham radio "console" of sorts. It would stop short of actually dealing with signals which would involve interacting with an audio interface; I'm not sure how possible that would be in our environment at the moment. Rig control and status is doable though; many radios provide a lot of info and let you change various settings over a serial port. I would want it to provide a logbook and work with DX clusters. I'm not sure how useful it would be.

Yeah, especially with all the software already out there like HRD, etc.. but I've read that some of the staff at HRD has not been that great to deal with, and for such expensive software one would think they would. I've heard they have went as far as banning peoples accounts who have left negative reviews.

I realize some of those review are probably just pissed off people who are too lazy to learn to use the software correctly, but in my mind critiques like that can only help to improve a product. especially one so pricey.. I do believe it would be cool to have some software to interface with the little SDR dongles and be able to decode CW, and maybe even go as far as some other digital modes.. mainly just for the "interested listener" stuff like that is what got me into the hobby in the first place, SWL and dare I say CB :-)

Well, not everything has to be JS. If there's another language you're more comfortable with, plenty of things can be done. JS is just very convenient here, especially when you want to interact with the BBS a lot. I guess it boils down to how much you need to know about the BBS and the user, and whether the info gleaned from a dropfile is sufficient.

Exactly, and I can actually grasp the concept of JS much quicker than any other lets say maybe besides BASIC :-) Start getting into these other languages and I would have whats left of my hair pulled out, and more than likely a non working computer :)

You may want to check out the DRA818V or DRA818U modules. There are boards available that make it pretty easy to add a 2M or 70CM interface to a microcontroller project. More lightweight than a Baofeng, easier to automate stuff with.

Very cool, yeah, thats a new one on me, must be whats going up in the cubesats, and weather balloons, etc.. The first time I worked SO-50 with 2 baofengs out in my driveway doing the circular polorization dance was just magical. the other times I was able to work it from in the house with a TM-V7, was'nt quite as magical, but still fun.. actually heard the ISS too but they were active with a school or college, so I dared not TX :) not able to pull much up on these DR818 modeules, but it appears it can be used on just about any project I would love to try, wow.. so much to get into.. Thank you!

telemetry and flight control, with onboard CW repeater that can also
communicate through the BBS, video downlink of course, streamed to
youtube.. HAHAHA...

That sounds like a fun project for you to get started with. :D

HAHA, yeah.. lemme don my tinfoil hat and get right on it.. :)

have a good one and thanks for your endless contributions to all these great hobbies.

--

Tim Smith (KK4QBN)
KK4QBN BBS

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þ Synchronet þ KK4QBN BBS - (706)422-9538 - kk4qbn.synchro.net, Chatsworth GA US

KK4QBN wrote to echicken <=-

HAHA, now you just need to write a Javascript code to control the radio from a remote BBS, and covert text to CW and vice versa.. Kinda like
radio tuners website for SDR, etc.. would be cool to have one to have tuned to a cw only band and have a server listening 24/7 and convert to text and let any and all BBS system telgate to it to listen in on the
CW broadcasts.. more than likely be done with all the cool scripts you have already written, I've just now started digging through a lot of
the code repo and man I'm very impressed..

I can help with the remote control side, for those running Linux. I wrote a remote base in mostly BASH scripts. The other requirements are Hamlib, thelinkbox and a handful of GNU utilities, most notably bc, for frequency scaling.

I really wish I could grasp the concept of JS like you guys do, but
guess I'm too stuupid or lazy.. or both :-) can get around it enough
just to change things around a bit.. but could never write one from scratch..

I haven't got around to learning JS, but it looks pretty powerful. I suspect my remote base could be ported to JS without too much hassle. The script would need to be able to call Hammlib, when the radio settings need to be changed.

The CW to text idea is rather cool too. :)


... Old hitchhikers never die-they just throw in the towel.
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echicken wrote to KK4QBN <=-

I've considered making a ham radio "console" of sorts. It would stop short of actually dealing with signals which would involve interacting with an audio interface; I'm not sure how possible that would be in our environment at the moment. Rig control and status is doable though;
many radios provide a lot of info and let you change various settings
over a serial port. I would want it to provide a logbook and work with
DX clusters. I'm not sure how useful it would be.

Sounds pretty cool.

I really wish I could grasp the concept of JS like you guys do, but guess

Well, not everything has to be JS. If there's another language you're more comfortable with, plenty of things can be done. JS is just very convenient here, especially when you want to interact with the BBS a
lot. I guess it boils down to how much you need to know about the BBS
and the user, and whether the info gleaned from a dropfile is
sufficient.

Yeah, I've got a bit rusty with programming too. Could have been quite good at it, was doing some nifty things with Turbo Pascal in the DOS days, but also discovered long hours spent programming doesn't agree with my head, so I dropped it.

You may want to check out the DRA818V or DRA818U modules. There are boards available that make it pretty easy to add a 2M or 70CM interface
to a microcontroller project. More lightweight than a Baofeng, easier
to automate stuff with.

I've got a couple too, just have to work out what I want to control them with. :)

Same problem here. I just go with whatever has my interest at the
moment. There's always something going on.

LOL, I know the feeling too, exacerbated in my case, because I have additional, non technical interests, which take away even more time. Right now, in the technical area, getting ATV working is near the top of the pile (after a 2 year hiatus). I've finally got a DC-DC converter to run the PA (it needs 24V), and a couple of 5 GHz AV modules to use as a link from the video source to the transmitter chain.

Also have to get a DVB-T receiver going. :)


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Re: AM Rally Set for April 1-3 — No Fooling!
By: KK4QBN to echicken on Thu Feb 02 2017 15:20:35

Yeah, especially with all the software already out there like HRD, etc.. but I've read that some of the staff at HRD has not been that great to deal with, and for such expensive software one would think they would. I've heard they have went as far as banning peoples accounts who have left negative reviews.

Yes, this was a big hoohaw recently, but apparently it had been going on for years. They were blacklisting the licenses of users who gave negative reviews or criticized the product publicly. IIRC they ended up blaming it on one dude who then left the company or took a step back or something like that. I've never actually used that software, so I'm not sure what it's all about.

cubesats, and weather balloons, etc.. The first time I worked SO-50 with 2 baofengs out in my driveway doing the circular polorization dance was just magical. the other times I was able to work it from in the house with a TM-V7, was'nt quite as magical, but still fun.. actually heard the ISS too

I haven't bothered much with satellites, but I did work the BBS on the ISS very late one night just so that I could say that I'd done it. It was nothing special, just the built in PBBS on a Kenwood rig, but fun nevertheless. Managed to get through just with a boring old 2M vertical, 5/8 wave I think.

but they were active with a school or college, so I dared not TX :) not able to pull much up on these DR818 modeules, but it appears it can be

They're made by a company called Dorji. The models are DRA818V, DRA818U, and DRA818M (I think), the latter being a low-power 70cm model or something like that, though none are particularly high-powered. SV1AFN sells them on boards that have all of the necessary supporting components, which is nice if you want a dev module to prototype with. The manufacturer has datasheets on their website with info about the pinout, and the AT command set for configuring the module (changing frequency, duplex/simplex mode, etc.) I have a node.js module on GitHub that can talk to these, handy for projects with a Pi or CHIP or similar, if you want to interact with them via javascript.

have a good one and thanks for your endless contributions to all these great hobbies.

Well, thanks - I do it for fun, and am pleasantly surprised if anyone else gets any enjoyment out of something I make.

---
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electronic chicken bbs - bbs.electronicchicken.com - 416-273-7230
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Re: Re: AM Rally Set for April 1-3 — No Fooling!
By: Vk3jed to echicken on Fri Feb 03 2017 07:01:00

I've got a couple too, just have to work out what I want to control them with. :)

Yeah, I haven't done anything too exciting with them, but they're fun to mess around with. I've got a couple of projects on the go that involve these modules, one of which I hope to finish in the next few months. When it's done and if it works, I'll post some pics because it will be mildly amusing.

additional, non technical interests, which take away even more time. Right now, in the technical area, getting ATV working is near the top of the pile (after a 2 year hiatus). I've finally got a DC-DC converter to run

I've read some stuff about ATV but have never explored it too far. It does seem like fun stuff if you have the gear for it. Tangentially, I'm a huge fan of SSTV; I don't know why, I just think it's hilarious. I'd like to mess around with NBTV at some point as well.

Also have to get a DVB-T receiver going. :)

I'd love to see something like WebSDR but more open, and people sharing their crappy SDR receivers with the world. They can be fun and useful to play with.

---
echicken
electronic chicken bbs - bbs.electronicchicken.com - 416-273-7230
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echicken wrote to Vk3jed <=-

I've got a couple too, just have to work out what I want to control them with. :)

Yeah, I haven't done anything too exciting with them, but they're fun
to mess around with. I've got a couple of projects on the go that
involve these modules, one of which I hope to finish in the next few months. When it's done and if it works, I'll post some pics because it will be mildly amusing.

Yeah, I want to interface mine to a suitable controller and make a highly programmable IRLP/Echgolink/whatever node for portable deployment. Might even add packet capability. Unfortunately, I can't use them for DV modes, because according to the specs, where's a high pass filter permanently in the audio path, which messes up the digital waveforms, even when discriminator audio is selected.

I've read some stuff about ATV but have never explored it too far. It does seem like fun stuff if you have the gear for it. Tangentially,

Yeah, I picked up a fully built 1250 MHz FM ATV exciter with a 2W PA, plus a 30W PA. The exciter works well, just have to get the 30W PA up and running, which I can do now that I have the 24V supply sorted. Also have to fix my receive. I was receiving on 2.4 GHz analog, but that stopped working (or I last tested when the repeater was getting refitted for its 70cm DVB-T output). I cannibalised one of the adapters from the ATV receiver for a RTL-SDR installation, so I need to put that back to test analog reception (and see if my converter still works)

I'm a huge fan of SSTV; I don't know why, I just think it's hilarious.
I'd like to mess around with NBTV at some point as well.

Yes, I love SSTV, though I haven't run it for many years. Used to have a ball on HF and VHF. Even ran SSTV over IRLP back in 2001 with a lot of success.

Also have to get a DVB-T receiver going. :)

I'd love to see something like WebSDR but more open, and people sharing their crappy SDR receivers with the world. They can be fun and useful
to play with.

Indeed, it could work. :)


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Re: AM Rally Set for April 1-3 — No Fooling!
By: echicken to ARRL de WD1CKS on Wed Feb 01 2017 11:17 am

Re: AM Rally Set for April 1-3 — No Fooling!
By: ARRL de WD1CKS to QST on Wed Feb 01 2017 14:41:45

Ever wonder what that "AM" button is for on your transceiver? Well, if you

I always thought it meant "Amateur Mode", so I leave it on at all times - I am not a professional. Sometimes I press the USB button when I have my radio appliance hooked up to my compooter with that type of cable. And another thing, what's the deal with all of these cables - I thought radios were supposed to be wireless I mean seriously what the hell what's up with that am I right?

I thought I was supposed to use that button before noon only. <shrug>

digital man

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