[DCboatanchors] FREEDOM FOR 40 Meters FINALLY!

[Bry Carling]

MARCH 29, 2009 is the last day for Broadcasters to USE 7100 to 7200 kHz.
Hopefully most will honour their agreement.

This will be a great time for AM and CW operators who have been 
increasingly SQUEEZED on the 7000-7100 and 7200 - 7300 kHz segments 
to let THEIR voices be heard in the new segment!

I understand that both AM and CW are legal there. Can someone correct 
me if I am wrong?

= = =

With only a few weeks to go before broadcast stations are due to have 
migrated from the band 7100-7200kHz as that band is restored to the 
Amateur Service, a scan watch has begun to identify stations still currently 
using that segment.

IARU Region 3 Monitoring Systems Coordinator, B.L. (Arasu) Manohar, 
VU2UR, has been scanning the segment.

He did this for four days recently to identify 58 broadcast transmissions, their 
frequencies, times and signal strengths. The broadcasters use 5kHz 
channel spacing.

The worthwhile yet painstaking task also notes the languages of the 
transmissions including Arabic, Burmese, Chinese, English, French, 
German, Indian, Japanese, Russian and Turkish.

Adding to the complexity of the task are jamming stations, heterodynes, low 
powered regional or domestic stations and many powerful broadcasters 
using relays to cover their audience target area.

Arasu, VU2UR, says similar scanning and monitoring work may be 
necessary in other parts of the world to get a fuller picture of broadcast 
activity and he's prepared to share the spreadsheet result of his work.

Mapping of broadcasters on the 40-Meter band will be important should be 
IARU need to mount a case to fight any continued occupancy of the 7100-
7200kHz after 29 March 2009.

That is the departure date set by the World Radio Conference 2003 and 
coincides with the new broadcasting schedule for 2009.

Jim Linton VK3PC
= = =

And from N4KZ:

A new U.S. ham recently posted a question on eHam about operating on 40-
meter phone. At night, he said, he only hears strong shortwave broadcast 
stations and very few hams. Don't hams operate on 40-meter SSB at night, 
he asked? That's a good question and, fortunately, some relief is on the way 
for 40 meters -- in just a few months. And the change to 40 meters should 
be rather profound worldwide.

As experienced hams know, 40-meter phone at night can be horrible in the 
U.S. phone band because of the ear- piercing interference from foreign 
broadcast stations. Many of their signals are strong enough to nearly peg 
our S-meters and if music is broadcast, it can seemingly splatter across 
large segments of the band.

But some relief is on the way. As of March 29, 2009, foreign shortwave 
stations broadcasting on 40 meters between 7100 and 7200 KHz are to 
cease. They will be permitted, however, to continue using 7200 to 7300 
KHz. So, that will free a 100-KHz portion of the band from the terrible 
interference those high-powered stations generate. As such, the 40-meter 
band will double in size for many of the world's hams.

At present, the band is just 7000 to 7100 KHz in much of the world. (Quite a 
few countries have already given their hams early permission to use the 
band above 7100 KHz.)

The 40-meter situation -- with shortwave broadcast stations sharing the 
band with hams -- has a long and complex history. But here is a short 
version. Prior to 1938, 40 meters was a worldwide ham-only band from 7000 
to 7300 KHz. But in the years leading up to World War II, some 
governments began pushing to use part of 40 meters for broadcasting. 
Why? It's prime shortwave real estate and as the world would soon 
discover, they had war on their minds and wanted good propaganda outlets 
via shortwave radio. Hence, they obtained international permission to 
broadcast on a portion of 40 meters provided they did not interfere with 
hams in North and South America, which comprise Region 2. None of them 
ever took the non-interference issue seriously and hams in North and South 
America got stuck with terrible interference and the hams in Europe, Africa, 
Asia and the Pacific, Regions 1 and 3, lost their use of 7100 to 7300 KHz as 
a result.

This injustice was partially rectified five years ago when the World Radio 
Conference voted to evict the broadcasters from 7100 to 7200 and return 
that portion of the band to hams in Regions 1 and 3. This has no direct 
impact on us in Region 2 other than after March 29 of next year, the band 
from 7100 to 7200 KHz should be free of foreign broadcast stations and all 
the interference they generate. Although many hams around the world will 
probably continue operating SSB below 7100 KHz -- as they do now -- many 
will certainly move up into the U.S. phone band above 7125 to work us 
simplex instead of operating split frequency.

Just imagine -- ragchewing at night on 40-meter phone between 7125 and 
7200 without BC interference? Or working DX stations right on your 
frequency without having to listen down below 7100. Or, if you're in Regions 
1 or 3, you can operate from 7000 to 7200 KHz.

I can't wait.
73, Dave, N4KZ

= = =

FCC says:

After March 29, 2009, 7100-7200 kHz will be allocated to the Amateur 
Service on an exclusive basis throughout the world, except in some Region 
1 and Region 3 countries.

"As such, Amateur Service use of this 100 kilohertz will be on a de facto 
secondary basis in Regions 1 and 3 until the broadcasting service vacates 
the band 7100-7200 kHz at the conclusion of Schedule B in 2009," the FCC 
noted. "This means that amateur stations in Regions 1 and 3 will shortly be 
permitted to transmit in the band 7100-7200 kHz, if they can find a 
frequency that is not being used by an international broadcast station."

The FCC said it doesn't think it needs to update its Part 97 Amateur Service 
rules until administrations in Regions 1 and 3 implement changes to allow 
amateurs to transmit in the 7100-7200 kHz segment.