[CQ-Contest] Contesting on WARC bands

[Bill Coleman AA4LR]

On 12/12/97 14:34, jack.sippel at nellcorpb.com at jack.sippel at nellcorpb.com 
wrote:

>I saw a table of contents in a recent Worldradio and at the bottom is 
>said "no contests are held on WARC bands".

Yes, and this is a good thing.

>If we are worried about losing spectrum because the WARC bands are 
>currently underused, wouldn't it makes sense to encourage operators to 
>become familiar with the band during contests?

There are a few reasons for this.

First, when the WARC bands were allocated, they were not amatuer 
exclusive worldwide. Some countries (STILL) have other services that are 
using these frequencies, so amatuers are making use of them on a shared 
basis. This still may be the case for 30m, where one can hear several 
strong 450 Hz shift RTTY signals practically all the time.

Second, the non-contesting community frequently complains of rotten 
contest QRM on the old harmonic bands. By creating contest-free bands, it 
was hoped that amatuer radio functions that are incompatable with 
contesting or other radio activities could take place in a more peaceful 
fashion.

Third, the WARC bands are TINY, and it was thought that contesting would 
overtax what little spectrum they had.

Unfortunately, there has been no migration of nets to the WARC bands. 
There are several reasons for this. Many hams with HF capability my have 
good equipment (rigs, antenna) for the old bands, but little for the WARC 
bands. Traditional nets have been on a certain frequency for decades, etc.

Finally, there's probably a chicken-and-egg situation with these bands. 
(As there is with 10m during the sunspot low) If there's no activity, 
people go elsewhere to work stations. If people are going elsewhere, 
there's no activity.

--

With all that in mind, perhaps what is needed for the WARC bands isn't 
all-out, unlimited-style contesting. Instead, maybe it would be good for 
ARRL, CQ or some other group to suggest an "activity day" for a 
particular band, much like the ARRL has spring sprints on VHF/UHF. No 
scores, no awards, just a few hours in which everyone tries to work 30m, 
or 17m or 12m.




Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL        Mail: aa4lr at radio.org
Quote: "Not within a thousand years will man ever fly!"
            -- Wilbur Wright, 1901

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