Modes Question ?

[BOBRR]

Hello,

Not a Ham, but I enjoy sw listening as a hobby

Re the 40m and 20m(Ham) bands:

Are these "mainly" am ?
Or a fair amount of SSB also ? If so, USB or LSB ?

I monitor with SDRConsole.
Any way of telling from the spectrum if a peak is from an am or SSB transmitter ?

Is there a good, very simple chart, that shows Ham modes and freq's ?

Much thanks,
Bob

 

[n9mxq]

20 and up is USB, 40 and below is LSB. You will hear some AM on 40, 80, and 160. Digital modes regardless of band are USB.

 

[BOBRR]

Hi,

Thanks for info.
Much appreciated.

BTW: when you say "40 and below is LSB," you mean a Lower freq. than about 7 Mz. Lower referring to Freq.
Right ?

Any chart that shows all of this simply ?

Stay well, regards,
Bob

 

[jwt873]

There is very little AM used anymore on the ham bands. It's generally used by people with vintage equipment. They tend to hang out on certain frequencies. The ARRL lists some of the common ones. AM Frequencies

Edit.. Everything below 14.000 mHz is lower sideband, (except for the 60 meter band). Everything above is upper sideband. It's by common agreement. There are no written rules (Except for the 60 meter band which must be USB). Here's a chart showing modes by band: http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Regulatory/Band Chart/Band Chart - 11X17 Color.pdf

 

[n9mxq]

JWT beat me to it ;-)

 

[ka3jjz]

Special note on 30 meters (10100-10150 Khz) - no voice here, all digital and on the East Coast anyway, there's a big Navy STANAG station on around 10125....STANAG stands for STANdardized AGreement and is used by NATO forces. We're secondary on this band so we have to take the interference...Mike

 

[cpfinlay]

Among other digital modes, you will find a lot of "FT-8" digital modes on those bands. You will need to download the WSJT-X program to decode. There is also "JS-8" which is a QSO mode base on "FT-8". You will need "JTDX" to decode those transmissions.

You can see the stations on those (and other) digital modes by going to Display Reception Reports and filter to the band and mode you want to view.

Here are the frequencies to monitor for FT-8 and JS-8:

 

[robertmac]

Possibly check with ARRL Band Plan. I do hear AM around 3890. I'm hearing some on 3885 as I type this. But certainly for voice it is LSB or USB depending on band.

 

[AK9R]

Yes, 3880 to 3890 is an AM "watering hole".

One exception to the "digital modes are USB" is RTTY. With most sound card digital mode programs, such as FLdigi or DM780, you have to set your radio to LSB to decode RTTY or "reverse" the signal in the decoding software.

 

[W5lz]

Actually, there isn't much AM on the ham bands anymore. That doesn't mean it's gone by any means, just that SSB is more 'efficient', gets further, sort of.

 

[mikewazowski]

Yes, 3880 to 3890 is an AM "watering hole".

I listen to the AM stations on a regular basis. Some of those guys take their audio quite seriously and it's amazing what can be accomplished on AM.

 

[AK9R]

It's amazing what can be accomplished with twice the bandwidth as SSB.

 

[cpfinlay]

It's amazing what can be accomplished with twice the bandwidth as SSB.

Definitely more!!

FT-8 is blowing me away. I thought PSK-31 was great, but wow! I think I could get the world using a wet noodle!!! lol

 

[BOBRR]

HI,

Thanks all.
Really appreciate the help; very much.

*BTW: any suggestions for FT-8 freq's to try ?
Live outside of Boston.

Stay well.

Thanks again,
Bob

 

[cpfinlay]

*BTW: any suggestions for FT-8 freq's to try ?

I attached them to my first post in this thread. (Sunday 7:32pm)

 

[BOBRR]

HI,

OOPS. Sorry.

That "old age" problem, again, I think.
Miss many nuances and other things these days, I hate to admit (mid 80's)

Thanks,
Bob

 

[W5lz]

HI,

Thanks all.
Really appreciate the help; very much.

*BTW: any suggestions for FT-8 freq's to try ?
Live outside of Boston.

Stay well.

Thanks again,
Bob

Bob -
Scan the band and see what's there! No telling what you might find interesting (any/all modes).