[CQ-Contest] CQ 160m SSB contest

[David Thompson]

Roger,

The real problem is that there is still no worldwide allocation on 160. 
Many in Europe only have 1810 to 1850 and some who do have more of the band 
can only run low power (10 watts) above say 1850.  The USA and Canada are 
lucky in that we hae the entire band.   I have asked IARU officials many 
times to get the IARU countries to make 1800 to 2000 be the band so the 
"unofficial" SSB portion can really start at 1843.  I was told it was not 
possible by the President of IARU and several IARU Rigional Officials.  Most 
of the world do not have a band above 1900 Khz.  I did get one official to 
say that he thought we might see 1800 to 1900 be a worldwide band but 
probably never up to 2000 khz.

Until this problem is fixed having SSB all over the lower part of the band 
will happen 3 or 4 rimes per year.

73 Dave K4JRB
Retired CQ 160 Director

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Roger Parsons" <ve3zi at yahoo.com>
To: "Contest" <CQ-contest at contesting.com>
Sent: Sunday, February 24, 2013 6:08 PM
Subject: [CQ-Contest] CQ 160m SSB contest


I am sure this sentiment will be unpopular on this reflector - sorry.

As I'm sure everybody knows, this was the weekend of the CQ 160m SSB 
contest. This has meant that the band has been full of loud SSB station from 
1800 up to rather over 1900 kHz. There was very little activity in the upper 
part of the band most of the time. The bottom part was however saturated.

I know there is no formal band splitting requirement, but there is a band 
plan which says that the bottom 40kHz is for CW and narrowband data modes 
only. However, I know also that many of the countries that allow SSB only 
over part of the band usually include only 1830-1850 kHz.


This weekend also marked the last two days of the 9U4U expedition. Burundi 
is a pretty rare country and a lot of people were still hoping to work them 
this weekend. It would have been utterly impossible for any CW operator (at 
least in NA) to hear the 9U under the SSB. Actually, it would have been 
pretty difficult to have any CW contact at all. This strikes me as being a 
little unfair and rather thoughtless.

It would be nice if just some of the band could be free from SSB during 
contests. How about 1800 - 1820 kHz? The bottom 10kHz is not allocated to 
amateurs in much of the world, so my suggestion would allow 10kHz for 
'local' NA CW contacts, and 10kHz for international contacts.

Would this not be a reasonable accommodation? It does after all leave 90% of 
the band for SSB.


Whilst there is no chance whatsoever of a regulated plan, it would be 
entirely possible for CQ and other contest organisers to write it into their 
rules. I believe that they should do just that.

I am sure somebody will produce the (spurious) argument that they cannot 
make their antenna work except at the bottom of the band. 80m is wider in 
percentage terms than 160m and people seem to manage just fine there.

73 Roger
VE3ZI
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