TopBand: 160M Contests

[John Mitchell]

Out of respect for Bill's decision about this thread, I have not posted
about this since he suggested we limit this, but having read all the other
commentary, pro or con, I am compelled to make one final observation (even
if obvious).

I remember, as most of you probably do, when Top Band was pretty much
relegated to minor band status - shared allocations, power/operating
restrictions, etc.  As such, there was little need for a formal Amateur band
plan, other than to keep hams from interfering with shared services that had
priority.  As LORAN et al have moved out, this band had grown in utility and
popularity, but nothing has been done to officially re-examine the band
plan, which is basically non-existent.  160 is the only HF band that has no
CW subsection.  Arguably, it is also the band most in need of a dedicated
"weak signal" subband.  With the apparent trend of DX countries (even JA)
obtaining bottom band privileges, there is every reason to formally
designate a CW section now.  Imagine how nice it would be to find CW DX
spread across, say, 1800 - 1840, kind of like 80 and 40M.  (I've always
wondered why the bottom 20 KC of the band is virtually wasted most of the
season).  Maybe the hot area for DX would still be 1820-1835, but even this
season I notice more and more activity centering around 1815-1825.  I've not
studied the band plan that carefully, but it certainly seems most DX have
some allocation below 1820, since there is no problem working DX there
during CW contests.

So, let's focus our energy on one goal that addresses the real problem,
instead of debating several controversial proposals that can only spread our
energies thin and result in inertia, I say.  Let's get the ARRL to work with
the FCC to structure 160 so the US operators keep phone above 1840, and we
won't have to worry about the Phone contests taking out weak signal work
anymore!

I would not be unhappy to see some further segmenting of Top Band by license
class, as the other bands are allocated, as well.  

John K4IQ


--
FAQ on WWW:               http://www.contesting.com/topband.html
Submissions:              topband@contesting.com
Administrative requests:  topband-REQUEST@contesting.com
Problems:                 owner-topband@contesting.com
Sponsored by:             Akorn Access, Inc. & N4VJ / K4AAA