[ADXA] Shame of US Radio Amateurs - 60 Meters

[w5zn at w5zn.org]

Allow me to follow up a bit as you may be wondering exactly who in the 
U.S. government is using 5 MHz around the amateur allocation. They are:
DHS
FEMA
USG - they DO keep an eye on our frequency channels.

And absolutely nothing prohibits them from downloading the free publicly 
available, open source WSJT-x software and monitoring our digital 
activity!

73 Joel W5ZN



On 2020-11-18 08:42, w5zn at w5zn.org wrote:
> Greetings ADXA Folks,
> 
> 7Q7RU appeared on 60 meters FT8 last night with a nice signal and
> several USA stations are in their log. Normally, this would be a good
> thing however last night was an embarrassment and a shame for amateur
> radio in the United States. Why? Because 7Q7RU was operating on 5354
> KHz and that is NOT a frequency authorized for use in the USA. I don't
> know if 7Q7RU is aware of this or not, nor do I know if they are even
> allowed to operate from Malawi on 5357 KHz which is where US radio
> amateurs can operate FT8. I was monitoring 5354 KHz and the first two
> stations I saw calling are, to be blunt, stations who do not care
> about the FCC rules and in fact don't care about any rules as one of
> those stations was disqualified from the DXCC program some years ago.
> 
> Sadly, the good followed the bad and eventually a number of other US
> hams began calling on 5354 KHz and the ones I saw calling should have
> known better. I was in an email exchange with a buddy of mine down in
> south Texas about it and sadly even he, after a while, said "to hell
> with it, everyone else is calling so I'm going to as well". I told him
> that wasn't the case because I wasn't calling and did not intend to
> unless they move up to 5357 KHz.
> 
> So what makes this particularly egregious? This is a shared band.
> Amateur radio is not a primary authorized user on 60 meters. Now, you
> may say "well, I don't hear anyone else there so the primary user's
> must not be using it". That is an extremely flawed position because
> the band is in fact used by the United States government and they are
> watching us!
> 
> Allow me to give a little background. As I have stated before, the
> United States was the first country in the world to obtain
> authorization to use 5 MHz. I was ARRL First Vice President at the
> time and Jim Haynie, W5JBP, was ARRL President. The FCC came on board
> with allowing amateur radio use rather quickly however the National
> Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), the
> Executive Branch agency that is principally responsible for advising
> the President on telecommunications and information policy issues, was
> staunchly opposed to it due to ongoing use by government. The process
> drug on for several years and finally we were able to obtain the five
> discreet frequency channels with the power limit we have today.
> 
> Now, you are also aware that during the World Radio Communication
> conference in 2015 (WRC-15) that amateur radio obtain a small
> allocation at 5 MHz which the United States has not yet adopted. We
> are not allowed to use the new WRC15 allocation until the FCC
> authorizes it. Let me give you a bit more "inside info". ARRL was the
> driving force within IARU at WRC-15 to make this happen but the United
> States government refused, on several occasions, to sponsor the agenda
> proposal or to support it. Guess which IARU society was able to
> convince their government to sponsor the item and get it on the
> agenda.....CUBA! Yea that's right, our own government wouldn't support
> the effort.
> 
> Now, think about this for a second. The United States government did
> not want radio amateurs on 5 MHz. They were opposed to a 5 MHz
> allocation for the amateur radio service at WRC15. They still have NOT
> adopted the WRC15 allocation at 5 MHz so now amateur radio operators
> in the USA are giving the US government a good reason to NOT do so!
> And to top it off it is not a bunch of unruly CB operators who obtain
> an amateur radio license doing this.....it is a group of well season
> Morse examined Extra Class DX'ers doing so!
> 
> Shame on them. The 5 MHz amateur allocation in the United States could
> well be in jeopardy.
> 
> So, is there any good news in all of this? Yes there is and ADXA folks
> are to be commended. We refrained from the temptation to violate the
> amateur radio rules. I did not see any of you calling. That takes a
> good bit of will power and also shows the integrity each of you have
> as a radio amateur, and DX'er and an ADXA member.
> 
> Keep it up, ADXA !!!
> 
> 73 Joel W5ZN
> ADXA President
> 
> p.s. 60 meter contacts are not allowed for any DXCC credit so you
> really didn't miss anything!!!