[Fists] re novice band spectrum

[Jim Reid]

Hi again,

I rcv'd some thoughtful comments about this issue.  These
from Tom Rauch, W8JI,  a prominent 160 meter CW
enthusiast as well as an excellent equipment/antenna
engineer.  What think you of his views about our
CW band segments?

"Even though I am first a CW operator and long for the return of 
hundreds of stations chirping away in the Novice bands, it won't 
happen. There is more than enough room now for CW activity, with 
the exception of two problems.

Our biggest threats to CW "space" are intruders and the quality of 
the radios being produced.

If you listen to the low end of 80 or 40 meters you will find boaters 
(including domestic boaters) using amateur transceivers for 
communications. Compounding that problem are unlicensed fixed 
stations, and even legal operators from countries like Mexico.

The second problem we have, and it is major, is the quality of CW 
from our modern radios. Every single FT1000 series radio 
manufactured has keyclick problems, they all occupy at least 
2kHz of bandwidth. The IC-775 DSP is another poor radio, and even 
a few models of our beloved Ten-Tec's have click issues.

Why not concentrate on getting the ARRL and manufacturers to 
understand we want better quality signals from our radios, and that 
we would be willing to pay $1.00 more for the parts necessary to 
properly filter the rise and fall times of the radios? It is shameful 
that we have ignored the bandwidth of transmitters for so long, and 
now we have to live with thousands of clicking radios.

Why not get more active in the band areas we already have, so the 
pirates are uncomfortable in the CW bands? 

Expansion into the unused Novice bands is the least of our worries. 
Our transmitters are clicking our CW bands to death, the pirates 
are worse every year, and we are not filling the CW bands we have 
now except in contests. We would have room for at least three 
times the stations we have now if keying systems were properly 
filtered by a twenty cent op-amp low-pass filter.

73, Tom W8JI
W8JI@contesting.com "

Tom has offered food for more thought/action?

73,  Jim  KH7M