[AMRadio] bandplan thoughts

[Geoff/W5OMR]

Peter Markavage wrote:
> You said: The "real" (ed. "real" I'll assume this is your own personal
> definition) ham who can build a transmitter and receiver is ignored.  CW
> is archaic!  A.M. is simply  a  bunch of guys who reject change.  To me,
> there is something inherently wrong with this." 
>
> Lovers of homebrew, CW, AM, Digital, QRP, Packet, Contesting, traffic
> nets, etc. are all "special interest" groups of ham radio operators. The
> ARRL has said on a number of occasions that as long as there is interest
> in these activities, the ARRL will continue to support them. The "etc"
> probably includes dozens and dozens more. Trying to maintain an equitable
> support for all them at the same time can be a monumental task even for
> the ARRL.

Are you saying that the ARRL, while saying they'll support the 'special 
interest groups' as long as their used?

Explain to me why CW is no longer a requirement for a Ham Radio 
license.  CW is -still- being used on the ham bands.  Removing CW from a 
Ham Test doesn't sound, to me, like it's a mode that the ARRL supports. 

What's next? 3kC AM?


And, really... what's all this hoopla about, anyway?  Haven't we already 
discussed (to death) the lack of enforcement on existing rules and 
regs?  So, someone is running 2.5kW on positive peaks on his AM rig.  As 
long as the rig is as spectrally clean as possible, and the station is 
run with good 'common sense', no one is ever going to say a word about it. 

There's been -so- much discussion about how to properly measure PEP, and 
there are those 'hams' out there that SWEAR their (_insert_mfgr_here_) 
SWR/peak-reading/ohm/volt/amp/watt meter is the absolute -best- but the 
bottom line is, if there is still so much controversy about HOW to 
measure PEP, who's going to set the standard as far as figuring how 
-wide- an AM signal is?  More importantly, 'who cares'?  6kc of AM for 
hams is the 'standard'.  Sure, you can generate a 15kc wide signal, but 
if the remote receiver is only set to 3, or 4.5kc to remove adjacent 
channel interference, who's gonna hear it?

-- 
Driving your AM Rig without a scope, 
is like driving your car at night, without headlights. (K4KYV)

--
73 = Best Regards,
-Geoff/W5OMR/5 New Orleans