[CW] FCC Actions - OOOOPS?

[Donald Chester]

> > The rules change was prompted by all that unused spectrum.  Counting the
> > number of cw and digital signals on the air at any one given time, 
>except
> > during contests, all the digital and narrowband modes can easily fit 
>into
> > 3500-3600 without congestion, even when all those digital signals are on 
>the
> > air.  If our narrowband modes use 300-500~ of bandwidth, and we use
> > receivers with appropriate bandwidth filters, we don't need 1.5 kHz of
> > spacing between narrowband signals.
>

>It's not unused spectrum. That's a fallacy.

Then where are all the signals?  How else do you define unused spectrum?  
10-15 years ago, I could tune from the novice band all the way down to 3500 
after sunset, with the receiver in the 3 kHz bandpass, and never encounter a 
spot where there wasn't at least one cw or rtty signal inside my bandpass.  
To find a QRM-free signal, I usually had to switch to the 300~ bandpass 
filter.

To-day I find 3600-3700 mostly vacant, even on weekend nights when QRN is 
minimal and propagation is strong.  If I attempt to work CW on this portion 
of the band, I find myself tuning across vast swaths, totally devoid of 
signals, before finding a QSO.

Typically on 80m there are a few signals scattered across 3500-3525, and 
maybe some spot frequencies with DX pile-ups, but lots of open space between 
signals.  Then from 3525 up to about 3550 there is a fair amount of cw 
activity, much like I always remembered 80m being.  The activity begins to 
thin out above 3560 or thereabouts until I tune up near 3600, where I hear a 
cluster of digital signals, usually limited to a spread of 10 or 20 kHz.  
Tuning on up, I hear a few CW traffic nets here and there, but many CW 
channels' worth of empty space in between.  The higher up in frequency I 
tune, the less activity I hear, until I run across several CW QSO's in the 
old novice portion, mixed in with Canadian phones.  Not a  lot of phone 
activity on 3750-3775, but above that, wall-to-wall signals on up to 3990, 
where the German DRM broadcaster wipes out the top 10 kHz of the band with 
its white noise.

I have often called CQ in the region of 3660 or 3670 and received no 
replies, but after moving down to 3545-50, I got all the replies I wanted, 
often with 599 reports both ways.

I can tune through 3550-3700 kHz when the band is open, using my 16 kHz 
bandpass filter, and find plenty of spots where I hear no signal at all, 
even under the best of condx.

I don't think I have a receiver problem.  I use a 75A-4 that I have modified 
to accomodate a choice of 7 receiving bandwidths, with the choice of 
Beverage receiving antenna or the  transmitting antenna which is a halfwave 
dipole, fed with open wire tuned feeders, approximately 110' high.  In 
winter months I can easily copy European domestic phone activity (rarely 
with any cw QRM)  between 3600 and 3700.  I can even copy the 
French-speaking AM group on 3550 after about 0500 GMT.  If the CW portion of 
the band were fully occupied with US cw/digital activity, I would hear the 
signals.

I don't think we can justify holding unused frequencies "in reserve" just in 
case digital activity might become more popular sometime in the near or 
distant future, or, if by some miracle, CW activity might increase by 
tenfold, which is what it would take to fill 3500-3700 with signals once 
again.

The Extra Class subband makes matters worse with the new changes, because 
General, Novice and Advanced must cram CW and digital activity between 3525 
and 3600.  I think the idea of "refarming" the old novice bands and allowing 
Novices and coded Techs to use the same frequencies for CW as the Generals 
was a good idea.

We haven't lost anything as long as there is plenty of spectrum left to 
operate CW and other narrowband modes somewhere on the band without undue 
congestion.  I agree that the FCC went overboard with the exclusively Extra 
class band segments.

When working cw I prefer hearing a cw signal every 500 Hz or so, than spread 
out so there is 1.5 kHz (or much more) between each signal.

Remember, receiver selectivity, frequency stability, dynamic range, and dial 
resetability in equipment used by the average ham, are vastly improved since 
15 years ago when the cw band used to be fully occupied.

Blame the dwindling CW activity on dumbing down the exams, dying off of 
older hams,  the no-code lobby, lack of newcomers, phasing out of commercial 
and military CW communication, lack of interest in endeavours of "delayed 
gratification," or whatever you prefer; it doesn't matter.  The signals in 
the ham bands just aren't there anymore.

BTW I have no sympathy for the NCI crowd.  I wish we still had the 13 and 20 
wpm code requirements.

73,

Don k4kyv