> deprives the far away Dx stns of interesting contacts. This rule is
especially
> important for us in EU, where the density of the ham population creates
> significant rise of the noise floor during contest- the last thing we need
while
> working DX !This observation was again very pronounced in this last CQ
160m
> test.I suggest the ARRL 160 to be set fine.
The exact same thing happens here Wolf. The overall "floor" of the band is
raised by the vast accumulation of spurious signals. This is especially true
on SSB. The elevated noise (QRM) floor is one of the primary reasons people
can't hear people.
Think about what everyone is saying. What is being said is signals (or
receivers) are so poor we need more space, including a special area where no
one is allowed to transmit near people trying to receive weak signals. The
poor operating and lack of a DX Window/split operation obviously is most
troublesome because of the much larger mess caused by poor attention to
detail at the design level.
We have to expect this when SSB transmitters have near-class-C performance
(and worse yet some people get inside them and turn the power up, like
CB'ers do), when CW transmitters have the bandwidth and filtering of SSB
transmitters. I often see 100W radios internally cranked up to 130 watts or
higher, just like CB'ers do. The radios are bad enough when left at spec!
We need a concentrated effort to get radio manufacturers to worry about what
they are doing with both receiver and transmitter performance. None of this
should be our burden or worry. We need the ARRL and other organizations to
take the baby-gloves off when it comes to spectral purity and receiver
performance, and tell the truth with meaningful tests.
The engineering burden caused of their poor attention to detail has shifted
to us, and that isn't fair for us. What we all should be doing is getting on
our local amateur radio agencies and the manufacturers to be responsible and
careful in design with the things that really matter.
73 Tom
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