[AMRadio] Bugged by CW?

Thu Jan 19 13:06:42 EST 2012

I've been trying to instigate SLOW CW activity in the segment between 7100 
and 7125 since it was part of the previous Novice segment. I still think it 
is a good idea.

I'm working on my radios right now since those of us here in the Western 
Washington area are mostly captive at home. At least those of us in or right 
minds!

Bob Macklin
K5MYJ
Seattle, Wa.
"Real Radios Glow In The Dark"
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "D. Chester" <k4kyv at charter.net>
To: <amradio at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Thursday, January 19, 2012 9:43 AM
Subject: Re: [AMRadio] Bugged by CW?

> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> Message: 3
>> From: "Bernie Doran" <qedconsultants at embarqmail.com>
>>
>> I am a little surprised  at these comments, it sounds like CW is pretty
>> scarce. I hear lots of CW stations here in the evening and even the
>> daytime
>> (OHIO)  else to that!!!
>
> At times, 40m is full of CW activity, at least up to about 7060.  Other
> times, the whole CW band is practically devoid of activity.  Also, 
> RTTY/data
> signals seem to congregate around 7030-40 lately.  They used to be  heard
> higher up in the band.  I'm not sure what instigated that shift.  But from
> about 7060 all the way up to 7125 is almost always empty, except for a few
> SSB DX signals when the band is open.  Totally wasted space in what is
> already a narrow band, particularly with the broadcast QRM above 7200, and
> the fact that the band is only 7000-7200 in most of the world outside the
> Americas.
>
> The US band allocations have not been updated to reflect the not-so-recent
> changes that moved (most) broadcast activity out of 7100-7200.  Hams in 
> the
> Lower 48 can't operate phone below 7125, leaving us only 75 kc/s total of
> broadcast-free spectrum, while over 50 kc/s of spectrum is largely unused.
> Sometimes the phone band from 7125-7200 is very congested, 7200-7300 is
> practically unusable due to BC QRM, but CW/data is almost entirely crammed
> below 7060, leaving 7060-7125 a virtual wasteland.
>
> US hams transmitting from Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands and
> Pacific territories are given special phone privileges on 7075-7100.  This
> dates back to when everything above 7100 was shared with broadcasting, and
> at these allocations outside the Lower 48, phone was prohibited by ITU
> regulations or else the BC QRM made the frequencies unusable, so this
> special segment was accorded so hams in those regions could operate phone 
> on
> 40m.  With the shift in broadcasting, this special phone segment no longer
> serves any purpose, since US hams in those regions now have full use of
> 7125-7200.
>
> I wouldn't advocate any effort to repeal those special privileges, since
> that would mean the FCC would be taking away existing amateur privileges. 
> We
> have  already seen enough of that with Incentive Licensing, and the
> purported AM power reduction. I would instead propose (1) to move the
> special phone segment from 7075-7100 to 7100-7125, and (2) to open it up 
> to
> all amateurs located in the Lower 48, General class and higher.  This 
> would
> give US amateurs equally wide segments for phone and CW/data in the
> broadcast-free portion of the band, and give Generals an additional 25 
> kc/s
> of broadcast-free space to operate phone when the band is open to
> international propagation.
>
> I'd be curious what others might think of this idea?
>
>>
>> I probably should not say this, but I am getting to the point that I do
>> not
>> want to even hear SSB on 75/80,  and/ or talk to those guys that sound
>> like
>> that have a mouth full of golf balls and a room temp IQ!!!   Very big
>> change
>> from the time when most built  at least some portion of their gear.  I
>> would
>> have never guessed that I would see the time that people buy a stupid
>> dipole!!!
>
> Who would have thought, back in the 50s and early 60s, when many if not 
> most
> hams still built their own station equipment from scratch, and WWII 
> surplus
> stuff was cheap and abundant, that within a couple of decades homebrew
> equipment would be an extreme rarity, hams would be using almost 
> exclusively
> commercially-built equipment imported from Japan, and that Extra Class
> licensees would be posting messages via something called the Internet,
> asking for instructions for how to put together a simple half-wave 
> coax-fed
> dipole or else purchase one ready-made?
>
> Although the CW community is far from being as infiltrated by
> knuckle-draggers as is the SSB community, I have found that homebrew
> equipment is just as rarely heard on the CW bands as on the phone bands, 
> if
> not more so. Many CW contacts are "rubber stamp QSOs"; once the
> name/QTH/signal report/transceiver make and model is exchanged, the
> operators are ready to sign CUL, 73, QRZ?  I would like to work a  few 
> more
> CW stations running homebrew rigs.  I do occasionally  run into an old 
> timer
> who goes into detail about the homebrew equipment he ran years ago, but
> nearly all CW operators these days are using factory-made appliances.
>
> Don k4kyv
>
>
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