Forwarded from Mezlim
Why did ham radio operators stop using AM?
Scan the 40 metre phone segment today and you won't find broadcast-style AM anymore — just thin, sharp voices that sound cut in half. That's not a coincidence. Every AM signal broadcasts the same voice twice, once in each sideband, plus a carrier that carries no information at all. All of that costs bandwidth and power for zero extra content.
Push an AM signal too hard and it doesn't get louder — it splatters into nearby frequencies. So amateur radio operators cut the fat: remove the carrier, remove one sideband, and what's left is single sideband (SSB) — the mode that actually runs the ham bands today. Same voice, a fraction of the spectrum, and roughly a quarter of the transmit power for the same range.
Understanding AM isn't optional if you want to understand SSB, amplitude modulation, sideband theory, or basic RF communication — SSB is AM with the waste cut away.
Save this for your comms binder.
Send it to someone learning ham radio.
Scan the 40 metre phone segment today and you won't find broadcast-style AM anymore — just thin, sharp voices that sound cut in half. That's not a coincidence. Every AM signal broadcasts the same voice twice, once in each sideband, plus a carrier that carries no information at all. All of that costs bandwidth and power for zero extra content.
Push an AM signal too hard and it doesn't get louder — it splatters into nearby frequencies. So amateur radio operators cut the fat: remove the carrier, remove one sideband, and what's left is single sideband (SSB) — the mode that actually runs the ham bands today. Same voice, a fraction of the spectrum, and roughly a quarter of the transmit power for the same range.
Understanding AM isn't optional if you want to understand SSB, amplitude modulation, sideband theory, or basic RF communication — SSB is AM with the waste cut away.
Save this for your comms binder.
Send it to someone learning ham radio.
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