[CQ-Contest] 160m DX window dead?

[Bill Tippett]

        I'll answer a few of your questions but am speaking for myself
and not the committee, which was chaired by K5UR:

>Who is/was the committee?
>Thanks Will, K6NDV

        The committee was composed of K1KI, K1ZM, W4ZV, K5UR, N7NG and K0TO.
N7NG still maintains his residence in Wyoming and I operated 160 for almost
9 years from Colorado before moving to NC in 1993.  No far-Western stations
applied to be on the committee but I believe N7NG did solicit input at the
most recent Visalia convention.

>Are any JAs still using the 1907 - 1912 window? If so, why did the committee
>put the SSB QRP calling frequency there (1910 KHz)?
>Mike, W4EF

        JA's are still allocated 1907.5-1912.5 but most JA DX'ers have moved
to their new allocation from 1810-1825.  The SSB QRP calling frequency has
been on 1910 for years and I doubt it has bothered anyone working JA's even
when that area was their only allocation...I know it certainly never was a
problem for me from Colorado and I routinely worked >100 JA's in contests
(including the alltime 160 record in the Japan International DX Contest 
set in 1993).  In truth, I think most QRP'ers these days tend to prefer
CW.  We asked the QRP community for input and they preferred their 
established calling frequencies of 1810 on CW and 1910 on SSB, as they have 
been for years, so that is what we recommended.

K3BU:
> >From recent ARRL bulletin:
> >>
> Recommended ARRL 160 Meters Band Plan (1.8 - 2.0 MHz)
> 1.800 - 1.810   Digital modes
> 1.810       CW QRP
> 1.800 - 2.000   CW
> 1.843 - 2.000   SSB SSTV and other wideband modes
> 1.910       SSB QRP
> 1.995 - 2.000   Experimental
> 1.999 - 2.000   Beacons
>
> Please note the committee recommended that the DX window be eliminated
> as they felt it was not working.

        JA's can operate from 1810 to 1825 and Europe can be found from 1810
to 1850 and higher.  Does that mean a US station cannot call CQ anywhere 
between 1810 and 1850?  Several of us on the committee are sometime DX'ers
who years ago reached the conclusion that 160 DX is where you find it.  It
really makes LESS sense to have a DX window on 160 than any other band
because there are NO common frequency allocations among countries.  

        Contest windows are another issue which is governed by individual
contest sponsors.  It is my PERSONAL opinion that windows in contests should 
be abolished because they are so abused (not by USA but by DX) and are a 
very poor use of spectrum in very crowded contests.  In the most recent 
CQ 160 CW Contest, probably 99% of the DX stations I worked were NOT 
in the 1830-1835 window recommended by CQ...and I believe this was also my
experience from Colorado.  Again, this is my personal opinion only and the
committee chose to defer this issue to individual contest sponsors. 

        I believe the proposed bandplan solves the major problem on 160
(which is wideband/narrowband mode separation) while being least disruptive 
to established practices...let's hope the FCC will enforce it!  (Riley
Hollingsworth says bandplans ARE enforceable BTW). 

                                                73,  Bill  W4ZV


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