DX60 AM Net 2024 03 24 (AM with Herpes) Band is Down due to recent solar activity. See description.
I missed some of the beginning of this, so those that may have been cut off I apologize. It was a "hey while you in hear listening" moment record it, slap in the face thing.
Conditions today were not so great with lots of QSB at times. and some signals were a bit weak and audio was lost with them.
A nice mix of years past AM rigs, DX60 and 100s, Viking Valliant's, some Home Brew gear and Borgi K9YQQ builds, Converted Broadcast Rigs, and More recent gear, along with the little Hermes Lite 2 aka ( Herpes Complex Syndrome 2)
( A quick rundown here ) The rig in use is a Hermes Lite 2 Plus ( aka the Herpes ) running the latest Beta 2 of 2.10.3.5 for HL2 Thetis, all TX audio is done outside of Thetis using a XAIR 12 and a DSP2024P for vocal plating, nothing else. The Hermes Lite 2 is producing .5 (Half a Watt) of carrier into a Austrian made solid state amplifier (VK AMPS) single pallet 1KW amplifier using 4 MHT1803 NXP devices to produce after setting the AM carrier level in Thetis aproximeantly 150 watts of carrier, modulated to 800-980 watts, which even in a 6-8 minute key down in AM remains some 13-20 degrees below the amps safety cut of 60C. The antenna is a 40M inverted vee apex @ 32 feet.
AM is a fantastic mode that doesn't get the credit is deserves and gets stuffed into a small section of the bands. You'll find some very knowable folks on AM with years of ham radio experience and great conversations, topics and fun, not to mention you can learn a lot form many of them.
The point with this net is to Promote the use of the AM mode (AMPLITUDE MODULATION) with no exception of the type of Rig your running anyone who has the ability to do AM can take part.
Most of you that know me, know I am not a fan of nets at all, However since this is promoting a Mode which can be enjoyed by almost anyone and has deep roots in Amateur Radio from the start, it deserves a bit more recognition (my personal opinion)than it gets!.
Before the introduction of SSB, AM was the primary mode of voice transmission on radio waves. AM was simple to receive, even with basic equipment like a crystal set and headphones. AM signals are still widely used today on medium and longwave bands.
So give AM (AMPLITUDE MODULATION) a try you never know you might find another mode you enjoy. so spin the knob or click the mode of operation from time to time its a hobby with many options, some which the new comers never try and those stuck in there SSB is the king fantasies will not understand.
Rick
N8SDR