Today I decided to try something a little different – AM on the UK 60 metre band.
A few of us had been chatting on 40m during the week and it got me wondering how AM would sound on 5 MHz. The result surprised me!
In this video I show:
• How I set up AM on the Kenwood TS-990S
• Why carrier power matters
• Why I turn the speech processor OFF
• How to achieve approximately 100% modulation
• A real off-air recording from the Hack Green SDR
My AM Setup Checklist:
✓ AM mode selected
✓ Speech Processor OFF
✓ Compression OFF
✓ TX Bandwidth = 100 Hz – 4 kHz (or widest available)
✓ Carrier adjusted so ALC is at or near ZERO
✓ Mic Gain adjusted for voice peaks approximately 4× carrier power
✓ Monitor audio sounds clean and natural
Example:
Carrier = 25W
Voice Peaks ≈ 100W
This gives approximately 100% modulation.
If you’re active on AM, let me know your favourite setup, microphone and operating frequency in the comments below.
Note: On AM, the audio appears on both sides of the carrier. So a 4 kHz audio bandwidth results in an RF signal approximately 8 kHz wide. If that seems a bit generous, try 100 Hz – 3 kHz instead. It’ll still sound great and occupy roughly 6 kHz of bandwidth.
73,
Callum M0MCX
DX Commander