Topband: ARRL Bandwidth petition

[Ford Peterson]

Tom wrote:

...SNIP...

> Of anyone in the USA, I would think the inland stations
> would most logically want split operation on 160 and 80 SSB.
> 
> 73 Tom

Your reasons and rationale are compelling.  

Perhaps my view is tainted by my own values, values not shared by others.  That value being that I personally hate the encroachment of government into the lives of reasonable people.  Maybe that's the problem.  For me to expect the general population to behave in a reasonable manner is in itself completely unreasonable.  If your mindset is 'a new law for every problem,' then segment, and create a new layer of problems.  If your mindset is to educate, appeal, and penalize bad behavior outside the jurisdiction of the court system, then leave it as is, but begin to educate, appeal, and penalize bad behavior.

As a resident of the depths of the black hole, 160M EU propagation is simply not viable except under extremely unusual conditions.  ESP QSOs are the norm--and then only on CW.  Only during contest situations and needing 'a new one for the log' is the notion of EU to Zeroland of any importance.  Outside of these rather 'special needs' conditions, I would not choose to talk to our friend Wolf via 160M SSB.  I would talk to him on 20M and it would be an enjoyable Q with arm chair copy.

Perhaps if a proposal could be put forth that would clearly outline what you are advocating, (a proposal describing bandwidths instead of modes) then a more thorough discussion would be in order.  My bet is the ARRL runs from 160M segmentation debates because they do not understand it, or because the membership is deeply split on the topic.  I assure you, the FCC has exactly zero interest in setting up new fences that need constant mending.  Enforcement would continue to be a problem anyway.  Until a reasonable proposal can be put forth, any criticism of the ARRL for failing to do so would be in-and-of-itself unreasonable.

So you are advocating the ARRL parse 80M-75M differently than is proposed?

Ford-N0FP
ford at cmgate.com