AM Rally on April 1-3 Weekend an Opportunity to Try a Vintage Mode

If you’re not familiar with full-carrier amplitude modulation (AM) or have never used it on the air, you’ll have a chance during the AM Rally during the April 1-2 weekend, on the bands between 160 and 10 meters (except 30, 17, and 12 meters) plus 6 meters.

Once the primary voice mode on the ham bands, AM eventually gave way to SSB, a form of AM. Yet AM has remained popular among dedicated radio amateurs who consider it their primary operating mode. Many modern transceivers include an AM button.

“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,” said Clark Burgard, N1BCG, who is spearheading the event with Steve Cloutier, WA1QIX, and Brian Kress, KB3WFV.

The AM Rally starts on Saturday, April 1 at 0000 UTC (Friday, March 31, in US time zones) and concludes at 0000 UTC on Monday, April 3. Certificates will be awarded to high-scoring stations in each of five power classes, both for most contacts and most states/provinces worked.

The AM Rally website has full details.