On 4/7/2010 9:51 AM, Woodrick, Ed wrote:
Nate,
A number of frequency coordinators have come up with new pairs for
D-STAR which utilize portions of the band historically used as simplex.
Didn't know that. Seems kinda silly. Being a member of the Frequency
Coordination Committee here and also having been active for many years
on our Council, we avoided such controversial silliness... but we were
probably lucky that the repeater pairs while technically "full" on VHF
had a few "paper" repeaters that eventually with some pressure on the
users of them, came clean, and we were able (at long last) to carve out
a little tiny narrow-band segment in VHF.
1.2 GHz was no sweat at all of course, and UHF wasn't all that hard
either, but VHF took a couple of years.
Meanwhile, the first VHF D-STAR went on the "undesirable for analog"
pair of 145.25- which is prone to interference in many metropolitan
areas from CATV leakage. Some of that is exhibited here, and there's
been discussion of moving the VHF D-STAR into the "new" narrow-band
segment that got carved out sometime this year to get away from it in
the few areas of town that it's heard. Some hams have offered to do
some hunting of the leakage, but long-term it'll always be there.
Of course the reality of it is that simplex can be used in many places
through the band, while repeaters are limited to where they can
operate. 146.52, as the national simplex frequency is smack dab in the
middle of the repeater segment.
True. Part 97 specifically calls out the repeater segment, unlike just
about any other mode/method of use.
Or in other words, the way that Amateur Radio frequency management has
occurred over the years is now causing a lot of headaches for users.
Heh heh... yeah. All depends on the area, the population density, and
the dilligence of the coordinators in that area over the years to be
prepared for "narrowbanding". Our coordinator here has done an
EXCELLENT job.
Nate WY0X
