by Shiny Beast » Mon May 21, 2025 9:44 pm
Several Years ago I messed around with AM transmitters. My best results were a small amp attached to one of those Home Real Estate Transmitters. A friend drove about a mile or so one evening and still heard me, though the antenna was very directional and almost impossible to match and ground. I did my best to modify a 160 meter ham antenna design and even played with a MFJ random wire tuner, with limited results.
Warning, AM horror story: When I was just getting into radio, I blew up and beautiful Viking transmitter (the big red one, think it was a Valiant, I've had them both) modifying it for the AM band. I either read or was told that adding capacitance to the front would allow me to tune past 160 meters to AM broadcast band. It did, I think it was about 170 watts for about ten minutes and then it just stopped. That thing was great, the lights would dim when it keyed down and it made a hearty "clunk" sound.