After four weeks of having the extended frequencies for phone operation, The Buffalo Kilowatt Bookend Home Office has made some observations. 

The main impact of the new band plan has been most significant on the 80 meter band, especially between 3600 kHz and 3750 kHz.  On opening night (12:01am December 15, 2006) the band conditions were rather poor, but there were a number of AM stations who wanted to be heard on the new frequencies.  It was great to hear these stations operating where they had not been heard before. 

The enthusiasm was high, and some stations that are always found operating much higher in frequency (AM Ghetto), managed to finally oil their vfo's and move down to the new territory.  As a matter of fact, most of the stations that were heard that night finally discovered that they could indeed move their vfo's and operate away from the AM Ghetto.  It is interesting to note that some of these stations were able to move out of the AM ghetto before the FCC instituted the new band plan, but never did.

After a few days, many of the stations who made the move on opening night where back to their old frequencies, and for some who remained, they were back to their old habits.  Yes, they were back to camping out on one or two frequencies, trying to establish a so called "AM Window" instead of taking advantage of all the new frequency spectrum that was made available to them. 

Some stations have realized that you don't need to pile onto one or two frequencies, with multiple stations on the same frequency, waiting for their chance to get in a few words every thirty minutes or longer.  They actually have moved to a clear spot in the new band plan, and called CQ.  Calling CQ is a great way to invite someone  tuning across the band to  join you in a conversation.  It works very well, and you might even meet someone new.

There is plenty of room to spread the AM sound on the new frequencies, and for the most part, the AM mode has been accepted so far without any confrontations.   As a matter of fact, a number of ssb stations hearing the AM signals have switched their transceivers to the AM mode and are realizing the beauty of AM themselves.

The only way to preserve this relationship that we now have, is to make sure that the AM community does not box themselves into a (AM) corner of the expanded phone band.  Oil that vfo, move around, and make use of all of the new frequencies that are  permitted by your license class.  Be a dial twister, and don't get stuck on one frequency.  Spread out across the new phone band and promote amplitude modulation.