I like and operate both RTTY and 160. I agree with Joe. I think his last
sentence is particularly interesting. 160 is a special band. It's the
narrowest of the non-WARC HF bands. Even SSB seems to be only begrudgingly
accepted by the die-hard 160 ops, as the noise and narrow slice of spectrum
make CW so ideal. Propagation, noise, and antennas make operation on that
band very challenging and satisfying.
160 is mostly a winter band, especially if one doesn't have good, low-noise
receiving antennas. Snow static and storms make operation there tough
anyway. The winter weekends are especially precious to 160 ops. I see no
need to antagonize others by operating a RTTY contest also on that band
during one of the major 160 contests that is, of course, single-band only.
No other bands are called the "gentlemen's band." It is a special band and
isn't needed as another band for a RTTY contest during a major 160 contest.
Jim N7US
-----Original Message-----
From: rtty-bounces@contesting.com [mailto:rtty-bounces@contesting.com] On
Behalf Of Joe Subich, W4TV
Sent: Monday, November 24, 2008 11:43 PM
To: rtty@contesting.com
Cc: 'Top Band List List'
Subject: Re: [RTTY] 160
NP3D writes:
> There is plenty of space, we (RTTYers) just need 20 KHz or so
> around 1808. I am sure that here is a high time to include
> 160 meters RTTY into NAQP RTTY, to start with and see how it
> goes... I do not think that organizers of NAQP are willing to
> add 160 meters though.
This is exactly the problem ... ARRL 160 has been there for 30+
years and generally fills the band from 1800 to 1875 +/- from
before sunset on the US east coast until nearly sunrise on the
west coast. Now RTTY wants the bottom 20 KHz of the band from
0000Z for some "new" contest that expands t0 160 meters.
This is complete nonsense ... if RTTY wants to expand to 160,
expand the existing RTTY contests that don't conflict with one
of only two major 160 meter CW only events. Don't get on 160
with RTTY in the middle of a major CW contest - that is the very
essence of intentional interference.
Of course this just shows how badly the FCC screwed up when they
opened 160 to RTTY.
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