Topband: Beacon on 1.947

[VR2BrettGraham]

KH7M posted:

>If they are opreating below 1900, they are illegal.

Not necessarily.  ITU-RR allocations are as follows:

R1: 1800-1810 RADIOLOCATION; 1810-1850 AMATEUR; 1850-2000 FIXED, MOBILE
(except aeronautical mobile).

R2: 1800-1850 AMATEUR; 1850-2000 AMATEUR, FIXED, MOBILE (except
aeronautical mobile), RADIONAVIGATION, RADIOLOCATION

R3: 1800-2000 AMATEUR, FIXED, MOBILE (except aeronautical mobile),
RADIONAVIGATION, Radiolcation

Services in all caps are primary.

A drift net or long line beacon above 1850 kc is not only legal in most of 
the world,
but is also equal in Region 2 whilst being secondary in Region 3 (these things
meet the definition for a Radiolocation Service) to the Amateur Service - which
means they should be fair game for USCG target practice in our part of the 
world...
whether they be in international waters, US territorial waters or their 
economic
exclusion zones.

On the other hand, sometimes they are the only things I hear, though when the
band is open they become annoying as some of them have fast, good keying
now & use identifiers that increasingly sound like the end of an amateur call
(numeral, letter, letter, letter).

Come to think of it, the ITU-RR has something to say about identifying 
stations,
too.

Ready, aim, fire!

73, VR2BrettGraham