16 Mar 2023

The death of AM on the amateur bands

Although there are still a few AM nets on some bands, the mode has mostly been replaced by FM and SSB. This is a pity as in years gone by people "chanced" on amateur radio by listening on short wave.  I well remember hearing amateurs on 160m AM many years ago. I remember copying G4PJ 4 miles away on a crystal set in the 1960s when he was on AM.

These days, people can no longer just chance on amateur radio. Our hobby has changed and the way newcomers "find" the hobby will be different. Modes like FT8 may be fine for working DX, but it is unlikely to be an introductory route for newcomers. As a person with a poor voice, I quite like FT8 and WSPR. At the same time, I am conscious that these modes cannot be ways in to the hobby.

AM had many advantages: gear was simple, ex-PMR radios were practically being given away and signals could be detected by very simple detectors. The simplest was just a diode detector. As I recall weak signals were better on AM than FM.  Of course AM carriers could be a real nuisance. 

Many today have never experienced AM, which is sad.

Even MW/LW broadcast AM is being phased out.

Several of my designs in the past were for simple AM transceivers. See my website at www.g3xbm.co.uk or my free PDF book for details.


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