why am?
2m events in region 1 continue to use am for the mcw morse code signature, in contrast to 'new world' regions, where fm has been adopted, due to the popular of the fm-handy.
why stick with am? it's primarily a legacy from the long establishment of ardf in region-1, but staying with am has advantages.
simple manually controlled am receivers, without agc, make very good df receivers. i.e. the volume of the received signal is relative to the signal strength. ( fm can also usually be demodulated by slope detection.)
the availability of simple cheap receivers which are intuitive to use makes the 'sport' more attractive for beginners, youth and non-amateurs.