Having fun with ‘old’ radio modes in May!
Wythall Radio Club members have been having fun with Morse Code and AM – amplitude 
modulation – during May!
The Club’s ‘high band challenge’ was to contact as many countries as possible by Morse Code on the higher short wave bands – part of our Morse May activity month.
Members worked 28 countries each on 15 and 10 meters, 3 on 12 meters and 12 on 6 meters.
Highlights were Argentina, Asiatic Russia, South Africa and Mali on 15 meters, Israel and Morocco on 10 meters and the Canary Isles and Sardinia on 6 meters.
And as conditions on these bands were so good, several members had contacts on 10 meters using AM – sometimes referred to as ‘ancient modulation’ – which used to be the main voice mode until the 1970s.
Using ground wave, Club members within about 6 miles of each other were able to make contact. But Winston, 2E0EGP, also had a qso with a station in Italy on AM via sky wave propogation.
Morse Code was the original mode for radio communication, but is still widely used because of its reliability under poor conditions. And AM used to be the main voice mode until SSB (single side band) replaced it in the 1970s. So this was truely a month for having fun using ‘old modes’!
During June, Club members will be taking part in another ‘high band challenge’ – but this time using digital mode FT8, which is one of the latest modes for communicating by radio.