A recent post on the so-called "freebanders" on 30m mentioned the idea of "other"kinds of interference in the CW portion of other bands.  It would seem that most of us are primarily CW ops ( an assumption on my part ), so I wanted to get your opinion on some "other" interferene I've been running into on an increasing basis in the CW portion of the 20 and 40 m band. 

      Late at night I go into the DX portion of 20m, but you will usually find me between 14.035 and 14.050, and between 7.025 and 7.040 on 40m, definitely out of the digital portion of either band. I'll have a nice QSO going, and out of the blue appears the burbling sound of digital HF.  It is unmistakable.

      The "Gentleman's Agreement" notwithstanding, it is a reality that the bands are crowded, and at times we operate wherever we can find a reasonably open frequeny. On 40m the frequency doesn't have to be open at all for someone to start sending CQ out of the blue.  Have any of you noticed the increased activity of digital signals below the digital sub-bands? What bothers me more than their presence is the fact that they are so resistant to QRM, so much so that they often just start transmitting, seemingly without any awareness of any other signal on the frequency or even nearby. I was working a station with an honest 599 recently who was totally buried by a digital station, and we were certainly out of the digital portion of the band.  I don't care that they are there, I just wish they had a way to ask "is the frequency in use" and would do so before they start their digital burbling. Anyone else notice this?