Hello! Summary: Do not over regulate HAM bands! Please emphasize in doccumantation: "FT8 frequencies are recommendation, not Law".
Few different ideas for "FT8 frequencies" discussion. 1. Fresh from CQ WPX SSB. On 80 m, somebody kept telling people calling CQ below 3700: "This frequency is not for contest, please QSY, read IARU bla bla ...". On the other hand: on 160 m, there was no FT8 for 48 hours. And some CW was lost in first few kHz (QRMed by non-HAM QRM anyhow). Whole first 100 kHz was SSB. 5 minutes after contest, FT8 activity is restarted. It was similar with RTTY contests: FT8 traffic declined and moved to 7 MHz (where FT8 is in the "SSB" part) and WARC. The other day somenone on 40m kept sending beacon (FT8 beacon) saying "This is JT65, not FT8" AT the same time, no JT65 signals was heard, and FT8 was crowded. 2. Shared space is nice approach https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shared_space , reinvented by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Monderman . (I recall traffic in Kairo: I would not dare to drive, but everything run smoothly). Concept is simple: by over regulation (Traffic signs, lights, zebras ...) drivers rely on signs, ignore other drivers and several crashes are due to "It is my right to be there"). By removing signs, drivers start to observe and respect others. Less accidents, higher throughput. 3. HAM bands are shared space from day 1 I see HAM bands as shared space. Yes, I did CW QSOs on "SSB" part. Yes, I used FT8 outside preferred FT8 2 kHz. Yes, I was using RTTY on JT65 subband. Yes, I do QSY if there is major contest going on. Any FT8/JT65/JT9/PSK/name_it allocation is just recommendation. It is frequency where it is most likely to find some activity. No more, no less. And it should be like this. All digital modes equal. 4. HAM spirit With respect to others, it is easy to find place for everyone. More FT8: FT8 expands. More RTTY: FT8 shrinks. Less PSK: sorry, it is not fair to keep 2 kHz empty while FT8 is suffering. I recall when first 10 kHz on 7 MHz was DX reserved. There is good reason why it is no more. Of course, we have different people on the bands: whatever I do, somebody does not like. But those people will always find something to dislike and some mission on the bands. 5. current practice Yes, we tend to go up. My RX bandwidth is 3.4 kHz. And TX as well. If needed, go up. If nobody answers CQ, go down. If JT65 is heard, avoid it. Best point for DX-peditions is just above: they transmit on 3 kHz, thus anyone can see they are QRV and move to work fox. But hunds are outside normal FT8 QRG. 6. Maybe SPLIT is needed? I recall 2017 JT65 madness on 6m: EU/JA and EU/W agreed on even/odd periods. Waiting for FT8 this year. Also, it is much easier to work JA on 160m compared to 80m (or 40m) from Europe. reason: JA is transmitting 1908, we are on 1840. So, if I want that HA6 station from rare UL square, I do simplex, if I want JA DX, I listen 908. Maybe a recommendation to use similar approach can return "weak signal" to FT8 DXing? EU/NA/AS-OC/rare DX subbands. Best 73, gd FT8 DX Iztok, S52D Pravni pogoji / Legal disclaimer Telekom Slovenije, d.d., Ljubljana <http://www.telekom.si/disclaimer> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot _______________________________________________ wsjt-devel mailing list wsjt-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wsjt-devel
