[NLRS] HF Contesting

[Doug Reed]

The October QST has an article about the FCC refusing to designate a 
national emergency frequency on 2M. In the further discussion they 
indicated that a designated emergency frequency should not be needed 
since emergency (life-safety) operation automatically takes precedence 
over other communication.

OTOH, from your emails, I'm not sure I'd call the Maritime Mobile 
Service Net an emergency net when in normal operation. It isn't like 
there is a declared emergency as there is when the hurricane nets are 
operating. What ship was sinking? Who had a heart attack? Who needed 
emergency medical advice from a doctor? It sounds to me like it is a 
traffic net which MAY from time to time handle emergency traffic. The 
same can be said for any other net, and they all don't rate "protected" 
status as an "emergency" net unless there is an actual emergency going on.

I will also agree that good operating practice demands that you give 
space to an existing QSO or net operation. Anything else is the mark of 
a poor operator, also known as "lid" or "asshole". Finding that space 
can be difficult on an active band, such as 80M during the "net" hours.

But during a contest weekend, finding a 5KHz hole anywhere in the band 
is nothing short of a miracle and people will try to encroach on it. 
This nothing that the 20M SSTV nets and 80M nets haven't been coping 
with forever and I doubt it will change real soon.

I could even argue that the other operator may think he is giving them 
plenty of space. If he has a contest-grade radio with tight after-market 
filters, he might tune off 2.5KHz and not hear the other station. But 
anyone with a sub-compact, run-of-the-mill radio will hear splatter 
coming through their wider filters. My FT-817 and FT-847 are NOT 
contest-grade radios.

I can tell you for a fact that a $7000(?) Harris RF-3200 HF SSB 
commercial radio does NOT perform well on 20M during a contest! It lacks 
too many features we consider necessary, including tight IF filters. But 
it does perform quite well on commercial or military frequencies where 
operation is channelized and nobody is very close in frequency.

You specifically cite that ships "depend on the Maritime Mobile Service 
Net and it's associated nets for weather reports and a place to call for 
help." I haven't listened to the net so I don't know. But I have to 
believe there are other sources on HF for weather forecasts. I can more 
readily accept it as a place to call for help. And that is a good reason 
that the frequency might be listed as a recommended emergency frequency 
by ITU, but I doubt it is listed as a primary means. The main thing this 
designation does is give a place for people to monitor, almost exactly 
like designating 146.520MHz as the National Simplex Calling Frequency. 
It improves the odds by giving interested ears a place to listen.

Bottom line, unless the person asking for a weather forecast is in 
imminent danger of drowning, I don't consider that an emergency. If 
there is a real life-safety emergency in progress, then the net control 
should state so and ask people to respect the frequency. I expect that 
most operators are not so blinded by contest points that they would not 
give a little more room for emergency communications in progress..... In 
that instance, there is likely more QRM from the net cops trying to move 
people away than from actual deliberate interference.

73, Doug Reed, N0NAS.

tom ring wrote:
>
>
> I found this as the first entry in my search.  It seems pretty clear it's been
> assigned as a worldwide emergency frequency.  Yes US operators can ignore it.
> And also that it's clear that any sociopath will ignore it.
>
> http://forums.qrz.com/archive/index.php/t-339946.html
>
> And regarding your comment on other means of communication, sometimes things
> fail or elements of the system are out of range when you need them.  And some
> people only have amateur radio.  Failbacks are a good thing.  Hope you never
> need one.
>
> tom
> K0TAR
>