Greeting fellow Pirate folks New guy here, but been a shortwave Op for years. I have a couple of questions, hope some of you can take a guess. Managed to bring my FT 101 (Yaesu) to hit the upper part of the AM band, however, the signal only goes a block or so. My SWR/Power meter won't go down that far and I'm afraid to tweak too much because AM carrier with too much power can cook the finals. I'm using a random wire tuner from MFJ but once again, there is no meter so I can only tune for loudest signal. Do you think it's an antenna mismatch or that the 160 meter band just doesn't like to go that far out of band? I only want to use a few watts so I'm not sure how or if to continue with the Yaesu experiment. Anyone had any experience modding hams for these bands?
Hmm I don't know much about your radio but I can tell you that a good matched antenna is a must at those lower frequencies. You could use a 20-50 feet longwire or inverted L type antenna with a loading coil. Also with MW frequencies you have to have a good ground system including as many ground radials as you can install. Just a ground rod won't do because at 160 meters and down a rule of thumb is that half your antenna is the ground system.
I suggest you read the antenna section of the LPAM handbook. You can download the whole book in PDF format at the bottom of this webpage... lpam.info/index.php?page=handbook
You should give that book a good reading since it will teach you everything you need to know about broadcasting with low power on the AM MW band and even includes schematics for pirate transmitters and field strength meters.
Most hamradios that cover 160 meters should be able to do 1600-1710khz as long as the radio allows to transmit at those frequencies but the antenna is the part you have to learn about and setup correctly. Just any random wire w/o a ground system will probably hurt the radio and give you a horrible signal like you described.
Even 5-10 watts of power should cover 5+ miles if you are doing everything correctly. Good luck, and read that book.
I read the LPAM book before and have experimented with various configs of antennas and just don't seem to be able to get more than a block. My Ham works fine on other bands, 10-80. Maybe I will just forget this idea and try to build a transmitter for AM, these Hams go for about 300 or more on the Bay and I would hate to replace the finals. I really dug the AM transmitter you made out of junk parts, care to sell it or build another for cash?
I read the LPAM book before and have experimented with various configs of antennas and just don't seem to be able to get more than a block. My Ham works fine on other bands, 10-80. Maybe I will just forget this idea and try to build a transmitter for AM, these Hams go for about 300 or more on the Bay and I would hate to replace the finals. I really dug the AM transmitter you made out of junk parts, care to sell it or build another for cash?
Nah I'm not going to sell it for a long while because I am using it for my own station . It isn't too hard to build an AM radio transmitter if you know how to build stuff with electronics. I don't build transmitters for other people because the stuff I build is far from professional quality and tends to break down or have problems . It's best if you just get on ebay and look around for a used transmitter or maybe get an old tube 160meter transmitter and modify it for the broadcast band.
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. It isn't too hard to build an AM radio transmitter if you know how to build stuff with electronics. I don't build transmitters for other people because the stuff I build is far from professional quality and tends to break down or have problems 
. It's best if you just get on ebay and look around for a used transmitter or maybe get an old tube 160meter transmitter and modify it for the broadcast band.