New AM website

With ALL this talk about AM 'phone, what ever happened to S.P.A.M. - The Society for the Preservation of Amplified Modulation? No, it's not mistery meat or a message you never
asked for. 8-P

Respecfully submitted
regards,

Don/KA5LQJ

 

SPAM, founded by the late Hoisy Hoisington, W4CJL, was a popular group that raised the visibility of our part of the hobby, took an activist role with regulatory proposals, and represented the AM community to Amateurs at large.

I got my "card" from Hoisy in 1976, back when SPAM was being called the Society for the Preservation of Advanced Modulation. There have been some variations on the acronym, but that's what my card says.

As Hoisy got up in years, he reluctantly handed administration and leadership of the group over to others. Many of the records have been lost. Meantime, groups like AMInternational, and publications like Electric Radio (which also has a website, www.ermag.com) , and websites such as http://amfone.net and www.amwindow.org, have proven worthy successors with more immediacy, greater participation, and a wider audience than his old group could ever have imagined.

The announcement that started this thread is another example of the growth of interest in AM in recent years. Best of luck to the new website.

SPAM, and a publication of the era, AM Press/Exchange, filled a void not covered by national hobbyist publications and general radio clubs like the ARRL. I don't remember much in the way of regularly issued newsletters from SPAM, but news may have been concurrent and included with the AM Press/Exchange.

To get a flavor of the era, pick around among these issues, scanned from the original hardcopy in those pre-Internet days.

http://amfone.net/AMPX/ampx.htm

 

Try mentally picturing this in your mind.

Its an autumn or spring late afternoon or evening. You're in QSO with a station that is 20-30/9 with just a trace of QSB. That station has excellent audio, and your eyes are glued to the S-meter while your ears are enjoying the fidelity. Then in the distance mixed with the minor QSB is just a hint of QRN from maybe a distant storm. The intermitte background "crackling sound" just adds to the flavor of the recieved signal.

You have to perhaps experience what I am trying to explain to comprehend it. Once you do, you'll never ask the above asked question again. Trust me!!