[Elecraft] ARRL RTTY Roundup

Mon Jan 7 17:43:42 EST 2008

The 7040, and 7080-7125 has existed for some time now as an existing 
":Gentlemen's agreement".  The 7040 spot was specifically provided for 
working DX in Region 1 where these people cannot operate above 7100.  Ditto 
for the 20 meter band from 14070-14150 etc.  This band plan was specifically 
provided to keep CW stations off the 'digital' frequencies and RTTY stations 
off the CW segments that are being frequently invaded by RTTY contesters. 
Yes the FCC allows what you say, but is is bad form and "hogs" the entire CW 
sub-band during a RTTY contest.  That is the whole idea of seperating 
digital and manual CW areas of operation.  If it was once a year there would 
be no problem, but the RTTY contests seem to appear every other weekend 
nowadays.  I have no problems with contesting as such, but one mode 
shouldn't occupy the whole sub-band for frequent contests.  Take for example 
the CW QRP groups and the SKCC and FISTS CW groups.  They specify a narrow 
band to be used by the contests leaving the rest of the band for 
non-contesters or DX hunters.  Most of the other digital modes (except RTTY) 
seem to stay inside the Gentlemen's Agreement bandplan.  Why don't the RTTY 
contesters do the same?

Unfortunately, a lot of the RTTY crowd seems to think they should have the 
whole CW sub band for their contests and ignore any bandplan that gives a 
"RTTY free" area to go to for CW communications  (besides the WARC bands!) 
IS this too much to ask?

73,

Sandy W5TVW
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Fatchett W0MU" <w0mu at w0mu.com>
To: "WA7CS" <crstrode at charter.net>; "Elecraft Discussion List" 
<elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Monday, January 07, 2008 12:23 PM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] ARRL RTTY Roundup

> 30m was not used in the RTTY Round up.
>
> Just where would you like the RTTY stations to go?
>
> The ARRL band plans suggest...Suggest the following for normal everyday 
> use.
>
> 3570-3600
> 7040, 7080-7125
> 10130-10140
> 14070-14095
>
> The FCC allows USA hams to operate RTTY on the following frequencies.
>
> 3500-3600
> 7000-7125
> 10100-10150
> 14000-14150
>
> It appears that all this RTTY activity is clearly within the rules.
>
> The Roundup was for 24 hours and the RTTY operators used lots of bandwidth
> that for the most part goes unused.
>
> There are always a few hams that seem to think they own certain 
> frequencies
> and get upset when they are used by other amateurs for other purposes for
> brief periods of time.
>
> I guess the fun of the many have to be sacrificed for the few?
>
> Riley Hollingsworth, Chief Counsel for the FCC, spoke at great lengths 
> about
> this type of attitude the last two years at Dayton.  I think you can find 
> it
> at the ARRL site or even on Youtube or other ham web pages.  It is worth 
> the
> few minutes of time to hear what he has to say.
>
> The extra portions of the bands were for the most part RTTY free.  Many
> amateur bands did not have any contest activity on them at all.  12, 17,
> 160, 60, 2, 6 etc.
>
> There were plenty of CW signals to copy outside the RTTY areas.
>
> I suspect your complaints are not targeted at just the RTTY crowd but
> probably at contesting in general.  This same contesting that gets people 
> to
> use 10m at the minimums and utilizes a good portion of our bands on a
> regular basis which helps keep our claims to these frequencies. This same
> contesting group which is a huge buying force in Ham radio and a huge 
> force
> to bring on new ideas and rigs such as the K3.
>
> RTTY is one part of the hobby and so is SSTV, QRP, SSB, AM, PSK etc.  If
> contests are that troublesome find a non contest band or simply turn off
> your radio for the weekend and mow the lawn etc.
>
>
>
>
> On 1/7/08 8:40 AM, "WA7CS" <crstrode at charter.net> wrote:
>
>>
>> After a week of building a new K1, I was anxious to try it out and get on 
>> the
>> air.
>>
>> Imagine my dismay when all I could hear was a racous cacaphony of RTTY
>> splatter from 7.025 to 7.100.  Similarly 14.060 was also RTTY hell.
>>
>> I was even pushed off of 10.130 (WARC) by an incessant RTTY "CQ TEST".
>>
>> I wonder what drives the ritty boys to swamp the traditional CW bands and
>> wipe out the QRP calling freqs - oh yes, now I remember, the ARRL has 
>> deemed
>> CW as non-relevant.
>>
>> Renewal of my ARRL membership is becoming less and less attractive.
>>
>> WA7CS
>> ARRL member since 1970
>> ARRL EWA HF Awards Manager
>
>
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