[AMRadio] Slow scan tv

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

I'll throw my comments into the melee now that it's been thrashed from
every angle.

That group is over this way, 4 and 8 Land as I recall. The issue isn't
whether they have a right to transmit there, or favoring one mode over
another, or bashing, or anything else. It's no different than the
issue that arises with SSB ops frequently: perceived ownership of a
frequency simply because it gets used by the same group more than
once. AMers are equally guilty of this nonsense.

The problem arises when they fire up on top of others already using
the frequency, as has been pointed out. I went through this same thing
with a SSB net that decided to move to 3.710 called the 7 to 9 group
or whatever. We had a dust up over it one night when they started
their net on top of me and an ongoing conversation with KK4AM. Their
attitude was that we had to clear out because they had an established
net there, been there forever, etc. I pointed out to them that, at
that time we'd only had phone privileges down there for a couple
years, a pretty short 'forever', and that it was the AM community who
had opened that part of the band at 1 minute after midnight the day
the new ruling took effect, if he wanted to keep track. We'd been
using that part of the band regularly, and the Canadian AMers had been
using it long before us. Cooler heads prevailed and the net control
agreed that they should probably have a backup frequency for when that
frequency was in use. We ended up getting OO Good Guy reports from a
fellow who was listening to the discussion. Guess it didn't last long
as I heard him going after W4PNT, K3JRR, and W3BYM a few months back
with the comment "We're getting sick of you guys using our frequency
and aren't going to put up with it much longer". When we had discussed
it a few years ago, he never did give me an answer as to how anyone
was supposed to know they conducted a net there. I never got the memo.

As far as the SSTV group, they make it a point to run people off if at
all possible. I've listened to them discuss it several times. They
seldom give callsigns, and when they do, it's slurred so as not to be
understood. Like the no-net types, one will hang around on the
frequency waiting for the rest, and if someone else shows up, he dumps
a signal on top of them, calling it a 'video CQ'.

I always figure these types are doing this because their kids aren't
home, dog ran away, wife left them and there's no one to kick around
or molest at that time, so they get on the air to do it. Almost as
stupid are the folks (including AMers) who get on there and respond to
them in kind, or by otherwise acknowledging them. This gives them just
what they need to keep going. There are only two things to do about
it: use Don/KYV's approach of turn up the wick and strap, or leave the
frequency if you can't talk over the noise. Scolding them might make
you feel better, but it does no good and only makes the situation
worse by lowering you to their level and giving them the attention
they crave.

If you hear a carrier, ignore it. If someone is actually trying to
join your QSO, you'll hear them. If they're so weak that you only get
a faint carrier, you won't be able to work them anyhow. If someone is
jamming and you miss part of a transmission, respond to your party
that your wife just came in, neighbor just turned his welder on, or
whatever else and you missed part of their reply. If you instead
respond by saying 'some idiot is dumping a carrier on you' or 'those
stupid slopbuckets are covering your signal up', you just verified and
insured their success. Congrats.

~ Todd,  KA1KAQ/4