HI Bonnie and the others commenting.. I certainly do not hate any mode but I believe that there are some incompatible uses of the bands that need to be separated given the number of inconsiderate operators that seem to be out there. I do not like getting stomped on by an operator using a mode that does not back off nor whom did not appear to listen to see if I was there. Especially so when they are calling a semi-automatic node that per the called station's web page does not exist. So I believe, and have commented to the FCC, that both semi-automatic and automatic stations need to be kept away from person to person operating.
I have been in a narrow band QSO (psk31 on 40 meters) when a Pactor station starts up on top of me. When I go check the call sign they are trying to contact, that ham's web page does not include the frequency I was on. And I could not report most of the inconsiderate operators as only a few had a CW ID at the end of their connect attempt. (The one that did was an NTS operator.) So then I go pick frequencies on 40 meters that seem to be in between the published frequencies used by Pactor then the Pactor station switches from II to III and I am stomped on again. Once I watched the entire 20m psk31 band (with half a dozen QSOs underway including me) blown away. Even better would be modems that could detect existing signals, with some community agreed upon standard, and then back off for a while to make sure the QSO is over. If the station was waiting to move traffic, then delaying until the end of my QSO should not be a big deal. I also like the wider Olivia or MT63 modes for keyboard to keyboard QSOs - they have worked for me cross country when the narrower less robust modes did not work. I was listening to my radio and watching the waterfall to make sure that to the best of my local hearing I was not on top of someone else. As was the guy on the other end. So having the FCC modify the new published rule is a move I support. Even better would be the regulation by bandwidth that does not force data modes into 1/5th the band. Then leave the bottom fifth to be the narrow modes region and put the semi-auto and auto stations up in the wider band section of the band. 73, Tom n4zpt expeditionradio wrote: > It is now high time for all the PACTOR-haters to eat crow :) >
