As to the 160 meter band, I was taken aback by your comment about operating
digital outside of 1800- 1810 bandplan. Bandplans are arbitary and there is
NO force of law in them as far as I know- and are voluntary. Now - subbands
ARE of course the mandantory rules and are the subject of last weeks changes
in separating modes. The chart, put out just last week, of US Amateur Bands
shows the 160 band with NO partition at all, and indeed over in the Key,
says of 160:
"CW,RTTY,DATA, PHONE, IMAGE" The only note of distinction in this whole
band comments that "amateurs operating from 1900-2000 khz must not cause
harmful inteference to the radiolocation service and are afforded no
protection from radiolocation operators"
Where did you get the information that digital MUST stay within the first 10
kc. I would say there must be something wrong with that, or the chart the
ARRL has supplied is incorrect, but I have other charts showing the same
thing. That would be interesting, as I have been using PSK in several
places on the band, but never below about 1.840, for a couple of years
without any squwak from the FCC, or anyone else.
As to 20 meters, you are correct that the majority of RTTY appears to be
above 14080, but I have heard it as low as 14.074 on non-contest QSOs. Give
a contest and people go wild and you hear RTTY as low as 14.010, which is
really irritating to a CW op. Most all of the PSK I have worked (128
countries to date) have been on 20 meters, and all of it within the
14.069-14.073 bandwidth. The other digital modes have all been around
14.065 - 14.070. This is the reason I was recommending the lower side of
PSK rather than just above it. I havent called CQ on the other modes, above
the PSK area, but typically when I have answered others they are below it.
Right now, with such poor conditions I am hearing no digital signals at all
on 20. I have worked few digital stations (other than RTTY) on 15-10 so
dont know how those separate out. Also have not been digitally active on 80
or 40 all that much either. Mostly, I look for DX and those dont afford me
"new ones" very often. The 160 meter band is an exception there, as I
figure that "new ones" should be easier on PSK than SSB or even CW- but so
far that has not been the case, for really long distance ops. I just dont
think enough people are using the band with PSK or other new digital modes.
Your last comment: " Perhaps it would not incur the wrath of the FCC if we
operated
> voice and then also transmitted data and fax and image in between voice
> transmissions, but do it in the voice/image part of the band?"
would appear to be exactly what we should be doing. It would keep the voice
part out of the lower piece of the band and
place both it and the images together - and as per my above - is totally
legal according to the charts. I was hoping that would be what we would see
on the other bands as well, but guess that is still not to be.
Danny Douglas N7DC
ex WN5QMX ET2US WA5UKR ET3USA
SV0WPP VS6DD N7DC/YV5 G5CTB all
DX 2-6 years each
.
QSL LOTW-buro- direct
As courtesty I upload to eQSL but if you
use that - also pls upload to LOTW
or hard card.
moderator [EMAIL PROTECTED]
