[Elecraft] Re: Improving your cw (was the international treaty thing)

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

The point is that the FCC did NOT set up "channels" for Hams to use at =
60
meters, nor has CW been "banned" on ANY "ham band". =20

There was NO free spectrum for a  Ham band at 60 meters. Other users =
already
"own" channels covering that chunk of spectrum. So what the FCC has =
done, at
the ARRL's urging, is to allow Hams to use, on a shared secondary basis,
some of the commercial SSB channels already set up there.=20

For Hams, it was either "do as the current authorized services are doing =
or
don't operate at all".=20

One of the considerations was that, since these are commercial channels =
on
which Hams are allowed to operate as long as they don't interfere with =
the
primary service, Hams can only use the mode of transmission already =
being
used on those channels. That's SSB, not CW. There is NO "banning" of CW =
on
ANY "Ham band".=20

Just remember that 60 meters is NOT a Ham band and it'll all make sense. =


I'm sure that the FCC would have been happy to leave well enough alone =
and
keep Hams out of there, but the ARRL was petitioning strongly for some =
sort
of access by Hams and they got what they could.=20

From what I've read the justification for the extraordinary access was =
for
wide area HF emergency nets who have a hard time maintaining =
communications
on ground wave on 80 and for whom skip on 40 is too long for the ranges =
they
need to cover at various times of the day. These are the nets that pop =
up
whenever there is a weather emergency - mostly in the southeast - and =
they
need to cover several hundred miles at all hours. They do NOT need a Ham
Band in which to operate, so access to the channels suits their needs =
just
fine. The authorization went beyond the use of the frequencies in
emergencies, however. Hams were allowed to use them at any time they do =
not
interfere with the primary users. That allows Hams to get ready for
emergency operations, try out antennas and do all the other things =
important
to having the capability to communicate on those frequencies. That =
extended
authorization allows all of us to use those frequencies as long as there =
is
no emergency - if we want to. =20

Ron AC7AC
K2#1289

-----Original Message-----
To me, the whole 60-meter business indicates that the FCC just doesn't=20
'get it' with respect to the nature of amateur radio.
Vic K2VCO

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