[NLRS] VHF Contesting - Use it or lose it debate

[Marciniak, Ed]

There a lot of very dirty (superregen) receivers that leak lo signals and/or have very high phase noise transmitters around 433mhz (garage door openers), 900 mhz cordless phones and other misc home electronics and 2.4 ghz (bluetooth, wifi, video, remote controls, etc).

One way to protect the bands might be to make sure anything we end up sharing with or lose part of a ham band to would be to push for decreased receiver leakage and low phase noise within 20mhz or so of any portion of the ham band....ideally standard stringent enough to require a dro, multiplied crystal or a phase locked cavity oscillator (with or without multiplier)
Or eirp limits or both
I'd hate to lose ham band spectum on 10ghz or 24ghz to wireless hdmi and such, or point to multipoint internet.

I could live with point to point microwave links if they were required to rechannel if they caused interference (ham primary, other secondary)

Huge numbers of cheap receivers(on chip vco with LC oscillator) raise the noise floor in a way there is no escape from other than thousands of acres in a rural area. Point to multipoint with significant gain/power sucks because its quite likely broadcasting 24/7.

Sharing with point to point links that could move a few mhz to accomodate us and were unlikely to interfere to begin with would be more tolerable.

While I'd like to keep all of the existing spectrum, I'd particulary like to see allocations that are international kept. 13cm eme appears daunting with the misaligned transmit windows that vary by region and potential for noise you can't do anything about.


Sharing the spectrum is probably unavoidable, but perhaps we can choose our neighbors wisely....
That could be something like a 'poisin pill' requirement that the future users meet the same or spectral purity standards we do for bands they seek secondary or tertiary allocations, and/or having some specific noise standards added to part 97 that or (our) future and existing equipment already meets due to the way it is built.

stringent requirements for things like a wireless hdmi cable might either keep them clean enough and low enough power to not interfere or push them to use spectrum already used for cordless phones and the like.

Death by millions on dirty little consumer gadgets that are not supposed to cause interference but have no easy way of being forced to shutoff isn't a fun way to go.

Death by point to multipoint is also a lousy way to go.

Point to point link hardware can and does get converted (think ma/com 10ghz whitebox or prodelin 23ghz) and can be a good source of power amp devices that will work for us. The right neighbors might just help us by making power devices available at reasonable cost and lead time, yet not interfere.

I hope this causes some intelligent thought.

73,
NB0M


----- Original Message -----
From: nlrs-bounces at mailman.qth.net <nlrs-bounces at mailman.qth.net>
To: nlrs at mailman.qth.net <nlrs at mailman.qth.net>; Badger Contesters <badgercontesters at mailman.qth.net>; vhfcontesting at contesting.com <vhfcontesting-request at contesting.com>
Cc: les at highnoonfilm.com <les at highnoonfilm.com>
Sent: Thu Jan 07 20:53:13 2010
Subject: Re: [NLRS] VHF Contesting - Use it or lose it debate (W9SNR)



Since the mid 70's my favorite ham activity has been UHF  & microwave 
experimentation.  Started with 432. now up to 24 GHz. After putting a lot of 
time, effort, and money into this activity, I would be extremely 
disappointed to see it all blown away by someone of influence who does not 
appreciate the value of keeping all the frequencies currently used by hams. 
Now, I really don't care what happens to the unused parts of the microwave 
bands, but I very much want to see hams retain the weak signal frequencies 
(2304 and multiples of 1152 MHz on the higher bands), and any other 
frequencies used for FM, ATV, EME, etc.  Hopefully we can reach such a 
compromise and not eliminate all future hope for those of use for whom 
microwave work is the primary reason we are still in this hobby.

73 - Jim
W9SNR

Message: 1
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 2009 12:55:15 -0600
From: "Les Rayburn" <les at highnoonfilm.com>
Subject: Re: [VHFcontesting] [VHF] Use It or Lose It
To: <vhf at w6yx.stanford.edu>, "VHF Contesting Reflector"
<vhfcontesting at contesting.com>
Message-ID: <5A207D943341432A869DAED37096A237 at LesN1LFPC>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
reply-type=original

It seems clear that another assault on our frequencies is coming. I'd be
willing to bet my next paycheck that the ARRL will cease this opportunity to
drum up contributions to the Spectrum Defense Fund, and fight any such move
tooth and nail. This "tried and true" approach may succeed, but if so, what
will really be gained?

Instead, I propose another course of action.

Instead of entering into bitter legal combat with corporate giants, why not
negotiate with both corporate interests and Congress instead? I'd submit
that there is so little activity above 1.2ghz  as to make the impact of the
loss of these bands unnoticeable to the amateur population outside the
members of these mailing lists. Even the majority of VHF Men wouldn't
directly mourn the loss.

If instead of fighting to retain these highly underutilized bands, let's
look at what negotiating a settlement might offer:

In exchange for all amateur allocations above 1.2ghz (with perhaps a small
allocation at 10ghz) we could ask for:

1.) Swift passage of legislation similar to PRB-1 that would allow
reasonable accommodation of amateur radio antennas, even those who live in
HOA situations.

2.) Legislative protection from any future encroachment on current amateur
radio allocations.

3.) An increased commitment towards resolving interference issues that
affect amateur radio.

4.) Allocation of spectrum on LF and MF ranges that are not nearly as
attractive to industry, and of greater interest to the majority of amateurs.

Some would argue that such an approach to "spectrum defense" would make more
sense in the long term, and that the gains to amateur radio would be far
greater. Alas, it won't serve the professional fundraisers who seem to have
the loudest voice in Newington these days, nor will it please those who
always prefer mortal combat to reasonable solutions, but the essence of true
leadership is in plotting the wisest course, not bending to the rule of the
mob--or the voices of a well-heeled few.

73,

Les Rayburn, N1LF
EM63nf
121 Mayfair Park
Maylene, AL 35114

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