[KCDXC] SSB segments targeted in HFLINK bandplan comments

[Jeff Blaine]

In the ARRL newsletter that came out in the last couple of days, the League says “The Board of Directors believes that member input in the decision-making process is both valuable and important as well as fostering a more transparent organization. It is to this end that we open this dialogue.”  

Read more about that request for comments here:

http://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-board-requests-member-comments-about-digital-modes

The ARRL received a lot of criticism for filing FCC petition (RM-11708) without  member support.  RM-11708 proposed changes that will increase more widespread email-over-hf operation by automatic control stations; something that affects not only ARRL members, but includes the rest of the US ham population as well.

The reception from the ham community in general was poor with many thousand of replies issued both for and against the petition.  The ARRL has issued many press releases and “FAQs” (essentially their press release talking points repackaged in the popular FAQ format) - but criticism continues about the League’s action.

The ARRL tried to get a similar allocation carved out of SSB band space in 2005 - and that eventually died due to ham community resistance.  Recently we see the same sort of stuff, albeit made more palatable by excluding the SSB bands, repackaged in RM-11708 – which was promoted all through 2013.  

Fast forward to today.  Joining the RTTY and PSK band spaces, the previously uninvolved SSB segments have come under direct attack in a proposal submitted by HFLINK.

http://hflink.com/bandplans/iaru_region_2.html

The band allocations that are being requested for specifically automatic operation is much greater than available now, as well as pushing a 2700 hz bandwidth for most parts of most bands.  

In addition to the mode changes, take note of the proposals “non-contest” designations, most pulled from the SSB bands.  If you take out the automatic station and “not-contest” segments, the SSB part of 40m is now 100 Khz – shared of course with the remaining powerhouse SWL BC AM stations.  The top 50 Khz of 20m SSB also gone.  

75 Khz of 80m that is going to be shared with “digivoice” and “image.”  The top half of 80 is excluded from contest operations.  Half of 30m is designated for high speed digital.  

Actually the CW guys get off pretty good in this proposal – lucky guys!!!  

For those unaware of HFLINK, ALE stands for Automatic Link Establishment.  As with all ham communications, ALE has an potential EMCOMM application.  However, ALE’s real cool feature is that it allows guys who have essentially zero understanding of anything ham related to use the ham bands for whatever kind of communication they want to perform, including internet messaging.  

A short description of ALE is found here:

http://hflink.com/automaticlinkestablishment/

And on that page, here is this comment:

“Automatic Link Establishment is a great tool for the purpose of communicating between stations in real-time, while avoiding guesswork, beacon listening, and complicated HF prediction charts altogether. ALE is most commonly used for hooking up operators for voice communications on SSB and for internet messaging, but there are many other useful features.  All hams are encouraged to use ALE for emergency / disaster communications and every-day common QSOs.”

If you peel back the EMCOMM packaging, the primary use of HFLINK is the same as other similar email-via-HF programs – to enable guys to use the ham band segments to provide cost-free communication alternatives to commercial services.   

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When I had mentioned RM-11708 before, the most common comment I heard was “it’s a digital thing, and us SSB guys are not affected.”  The second most common was “it’s a digital thing, and I don’t do digital – I’m not affected.”  

OK, if you think you are not affected, you will still want to keep this subject on your radar.  SSB and CW segments are actively in the mix and fair game for discussion, just as the “antiquated, obsolete and out of favor” RTTY or the completely ignored JT/PSK modes.

The 10+ year-old push by the ARRL to support automatic data links using the ham bands is far from over.  And the HFLINK comments suggest one possible future.  Who knows where it will go?

I will have to commend the ARRL for asking for member comments now.  Unfortunately, based on their actions the League’s position was formed 10 years ago and the recent member embrace looks more like damage control than an honest solicitation of inputs PRIOR to policy formulation.

73/jeff/ac0c
www.ac0c.com 
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