The use of the Automatic Sub Bands on HF ham radio for digital data has been increasing tremendously over the past 5 years. Obviously, automatic and similar types of operation have become extremely popular with ham operators. This growth pattern appears to be continuing into the future as more digital methods and innovation are forged. The use of HF radios interfaced with computers is now commonplace, especially for ham radio emergency communications systems.
When the Automatic Sub Bands were originally defined in the 20th century, the number of HF operators using automatic systems was much smaller than it is now. Currently, hams using these segments are experiencing severe congestion and longer waiting times for frequency availability, while adjacent band segments lay nearly dormant. There is now a great need to expand the Automatic Sub Bands, especially for the North America and European regions. A reasonable suggestion is that automatic sub bands be approximately 10% of each HF ham band. In other words, if an HF band is 350kHz wide, then at least 35kHz of it should be available as an automatic sub band for standard 3kHz bandwidth signals. It is especially important that 3kHz bandwidth be available, because this provides the best flexibility and enables modern fast time-division sharing methods for efficient spectrum use, with many stations sharing the same spectrum in short intervals of time. This trend is away from older slow data methods using frequency division sharing. Here are some suggested expanded frequency ranges for HF automatic band segments. 1805-1815 Worldwide 1990-2000 North America 3560-3610 North America 3590-3630 Worldwide 7100-7125kHz North America 7100-7110kHz Worldwide (in the new international band) 7035-7045kHz Worldwide 10140-10150 Worldwide 14085-14125kHz Worldwide (n 14099.5-14100.5 IARU beacon net) 18100-18109.5kHz Worldwide 21090-21135kHz Worldwide 24920-24929.5kHz Worldwide 28100-28199.5kHz Worldwide A push should be made by digital operators everywhere around the world to recognize and allocate band segments that are the same, or overlapping worldwide. This is needed to assure the interoperability and standardization necessary for emergency communications. It is in the interest of all HF ham operators for bandplanners and spectrum regulating authorities to designate adequate and reasonable portions of the HF bands for automatic use. 73---Bonnie Crystal VR2/KQ6XA .
