[MCARC] Message from AC0I

[Nate Bargmann]

* On 2017 04 Oct 11:44 -0500, Dave Crawford wrote:
> Mike sent the following message which bounced for some reason.

Thanks, Dave.

> Hello All;
> I ran across a interesting video on the two new amateur radio bands of
> 630m and 2200m.  The presentation is about an hour long so if we can
> get the business meeting over with quickly it should not be too late
> in the evening.

Or we run the video and then do the meeting afterward?

> My understanding is that the 630 meter band was allocated to amateur
> radio use about 100 years ago.

More like the other way around.

Almost 105 years ago the Radio Law of 1912 restricted what we now know
as radio amateurs to a wavelength of 200 meters (1500 kHz).  Prior to
its effective date *everybody* was using longer wavelengths (lower
frequencies).  There was no regulation and ships, shore stations, and
private stations (radio amateurs) shared the same spectrum.  There had
been efforts made in congress to outlaw the private stations but none
passed until after the sinking of the Titanic in April 1912.

Many amateurs lobbied hard, and the final bill didn't outlaw the
amateurs but banished them to the "useless" wavelength of 200m.
Technologists of the time thought that great distances could only be
achieved by using longer wavelengths.  The thought of the bill's authors
was that banishing amateurs to 200m would so shorten their range that
eventually they would lose interest and only the military and commercial
stations that were left could share the spectrum in a genteel manner.

They were wrong!

It was difficult for the amateurs to make equipment work at 200m.  A few
bits of technology fell their way, however.  First was the Deforest
Audion, the first triode tube that allowed amplified reception.  Prior
it receivers consisted of a coherer or a galena crystal and a cat
whisker.  Then came Edwin Armstrong's development of the regenerative
receiver that provided tremendous gain using the Audion and much weaker
signals could be heard thus greatly extending the effective receiving
range of any station that employed a regen.

Only a slight bit of experimentation was done using tubes for
transmitting before amateur radio was shut down for WW1.  Once the hams
were back on the air in 1919, tube transmitters quickly became accepted
and CW was born (these days we use CW as a shorthand for Morse Code
transmission via a keyed carrier, fact is that all of our popular modes
used today are CW).

CW stands for Continuous Wave which was a sharp contrast to the damped
waves of spark.  The signals were much narrower (a fraction of a percent
as wide as even the narrowest spark emission) which concentrated the
transmitter power such that transmission range was greatly extended.  CW
would beget AM and phone operation was within reach of many amateurs who
had only known Morse Code before.  The increased distance enabled by
more efficient transmission modes and better receivers allowed radio
amateurs to discover the long distance properties of the shortwave bands
and learn of the existence of the ionosphere.

Spark was outlawed by 1927 and our present 160, 80, 40, 20, and 10m
bands were formalized by international treaty (other bands would come
later and 5 and 2.5m would become 6 and 2m respectively).  Some radio
amateurs ceased operation at that time and never returned to the air.

The opening of the 630 and 2200m bands will allow radio amateurs to
return to the roots of the service.  No, spark is not authorized!
Plenty of other modes are, and despite the 5 Watt EIRP limit, plenty of
interesting things await those who can get on the bands.

This is a homecoming nearly 105 years in the making.

73, Nate

-- 

"The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all
possible worlds.  The pessimist fears this is true."

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