[RTTY] Lack of RTTY on 40 and 80 Meters

[Bill Turner]

ORIGINAL MESSAGE:          (may be snipped)

On 3/24/2014 9:23 AM, David Tanks wrote:
> Maybe I missed something, but could someone tell me why there is almost zero RTTY on 40, and very little on 80? I can only find activity on bands above 40.  Thanks in advance.
>
> 73, David AD4TJ

REPLY:

At least part of the issue on both bands is what frequency to operate. 
Traditionally RTTY calling frequencies have been 80 kHz above the lower 
band edge. Due to various allocations, that doesn't work for much of the 
world outside Region 2. Japan, for example, can not operate 80 kHz up on 
either of those bands. See any recent JARTS rules for a complete list of 
JA RTTY frequencies.

There is a similar issue on 160 meters The ARRL band plan recommends the 
bottom 10 kHz for digital modes, but much of the rest of the world, 
especially Europe, uses the area around 1838 +/- a few. JT65 is almost 
exclusively in that range, even in the IS.

I do get on 160 meters now and then, calling CQ on 1808 in the wee hours 
of the morning but it's pretty lonely there. I do make a few Q's but 
they are few and far between. I've never even heard a European RTTY 
signal here in California. 160 is a great band for domestic Q's however. 
Maybe I'll see you there?

73, Bill W6WRT