wrote


Why isn't there any room for AM on 160, 40, 20, 17, 15 or 12 meters?


There's plenty of room; Part 97 rules allow AM operation on each of those bands.

Neither the ARRL or IARU bandplan has any legal standing beyond being two (of
several) recommended ways of hams using their assigned spectrum. Since the
bandplans serve two different populations sets, it isn't reasonable to expect
that they'll be carbon copies of each other. If every country had exactly the
same assigned bands, and those countries all micromanaged the ham spectrum like
FCC does, then a unified and consistent IARU bandplan might be feasible as "law"
to all those administrations. In the meantime, FCC isn't issuing any nasty
letters for AM operation on any band where it's authorized, even if IARU hasn't
blessed that operation.

The Man in the Maze
QRU on Baboquivari Peak, AZ

--
Iitoi