RE: [DX-CHAT] KG44WW

[Ron Notarius WN3VAW]

Strictly speaking, operations from Guantanamo Bay come under the authority of the base commander and those he has delegated to -- ie the US Military -- not the FCC.  Therefore, if the KG44WW op has permission to operate below the US band on 20, he's kosher.  And further, those in the US who are answering him simplex below 14.150 ARE in violation of FCC rules, which they are subject to.

 

Wonder how many Popkingrams this little fiasco will generate?

 

Again, though, I have a question about the valildity of the call sign.  Again, as I understand the rules, the FCC long ago allocated the KG4 2x2 block for use by the military on Guantanamo.  A double-number call is strictly speaking not a 2x2, and strictly speaking, is not considered in the US an Amateur service call sign. 

 

I'm sure that sometime early next week, the Powers That Be will shake this one out.  In the meantime, as I said before, WFWL, and enjoy it while you can... I couldn't put my vertical up this morning (the neighborhood kids were running around the back yard, paying no attention to fences, and I couldn't risk injury to the antenna.  Oh yeah, the kids too) so I'm relegated to listening but not operating.  Now if the bank comes through with the mortgage next week, that too may change...

 

73

-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Saturday, March 25, 2006 6:40 PM
To: dx-chat@njdxa.org
Subject: [DX-CHAT] KG44WW

Hi Folks,

Thanks for the replies.  I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something.

I have sent an inquiry to ARRL Field Services to see if there is any input on the situation.

The best as I can see, operating under the authority of an FCC license does not allow any station is US territory  to operate beyond Extra Class privileges {on 20 Meters}. Or to operate with a callsign outside the assigned call of the station. If the FCC has granted authority to officials at Gitmo to assign calls, then maybe the call is Kosher. Prefixes can be added with a slant bar, but the operator can not choose to alter the assigned call. If I hear anything regarding this I'll update the list.

I don't know if I missed what spurred the comment about the 3 KHz wide SSB sigs. But, it was good to listen to 14.348 and above, hear the DX calling cq, but no US stations answering. This was not the case in ARRL DX this month. What most ops don't consider is that the dial frequency is the suppressed carrier frequency. So on twenty, a dial frequency above 13.347 puts the sig squarely outside the ham band. Same closer than 3 KHz from the bottom of a band on LSB. Just cause the DX is calling CQ there doesn't mean US stations should call there!

I did find it interesting to hear KG44WW scolding US stations for calling him out of band. Unless I learn something new about operating from Gitmo I thought he was out of band.

73 for now,

Duane, WV2B


"Nothing great is ever achieved without enthusiasm."- Ralph Waldo Emerson.