[50mhz] [6 Meter Sked] RE: [Mw] TV Channels 2-6 Post Transition

[Chris Boone]

Maybe but the 216-220 MHz band is mostly used commercially along the
Mississippi river and the Intercoastal Canal...so it is largely unused in
the rest of the US...easy to coordinate that....and directional antennas,
etc must be used on the packet systems and they cannot be freq agile...
So a 4m allocation under similar conditions would be digital only, fixed
freqs after coordination, directional antennas, etc...would not work and
likely not be accepted by the FCC...I know little of any use of amateur
packet in the 216-220 range anyway (packet is pretty much dead in Texas
except for APRS.....we had a 19.2KB packet network across Houston that I was
technical director of...used 430MHz Kantronics D410 radios....when it
worked, WOW!!! But the system fell into disrepair when tower sites were lost
and the 9600baud nodes started coming down....(which I help put some
up...one group never paid me for the xtals or the mods or the GE MVP I
supplied...cheapskates!! Never dealt with that club again)

STAs are limited in scope and number of users.....would not be the
best....TV Channel 5 may be better for a try...before the FM boys make a
move and try to grab it and TV 6..already I am seeing LD (Low power
digitals) pop up on lowband channels that are being deserted for UHF
channels by high power stations...HOW they are going to work is anyone's
guess....One LD is on in Dallas on 3...with analog 2 still on (but not after
6/12)...and with DTVs allowed adj channel as long as they are closely spaced
in distance, one could almost imagine a 2,3,4, 5&6 LD or DTV master setup on
one tower in a town (it could happen where I live since our analogs 4 and 6
are going to UHF and staying there)..EGADS!
I don't know how the Hipwr DTVs on lowband are going to work out..a lot of
people say it wont and they will have to file for a power increase (I agree)
or they will hunt for another channel higher (GOOD LUCK!!! In some markets
ALL the channels are taken!)..if a LP is displaced by a Hipwr DTV moving
onto their channel, they will likely go lowband...15KW LD going lowband will
probably ask for an increase in their lowband ERP to be able to cover as far
as they could on V or UHF....so there goes the neighborhood....our FCC has
really screwed things up with this selling of the 700MHz band....what we
needed was a refarming of VHF with standard rptr offsets and then everyone
would not be talking on top of everyone....they did that to UHF years ago
and did away with subbands for certain industries, etc..I have Oil company
plants using 451MHz where only utilities (power, gas, telephone, etc) were
before and it's a mess!

I just don't see a 4m allocation viable in the US right now...

-----Original Message-----
From: 50mhz-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:50mhz-bounces at mailman.qth.net]
On Behalf Of J. Gordon Beattie, Jr., W2TTT
Sent: Monday, May 18, 2009 12:28 PM
To: 6meter at yahoogroups.com; 'Michael Keane K1MK'
Cc: microwave at echo.valinet.com; 50mhz at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [50mhz] [6 Meter Sked] RE: [Mw] TV Channels 2-6 Post Transition

Chris,

Perhaps we start with an STA for selected stations in specific areas outside
the footprints of these remaining "Channel 4" markets?  

We have a limited allocation at 216 MHz that is similar for packet data and
of course there is the 136kHz STA, so it might be something to consider.

 

Thanks & 73,

Gordon Beattie, W2TTT

201.314.6964