Topband: 160M JT65HF, etc....

[Jim Brown]

On 1/2/2012 2:08 PM, n0ah.ham Paul Veal wrote:
> I have a real problem with digital operators who ignore our presence near or around 1.838MHz and just blindly transmit where stations are listening.

CW operators seem to be making a mountain out of mole hill on this 
issue. Here in northern Califorina, with Beverages in four directions, I 
NEVER hear anything but SSB above 1835 except during contests, and 
you're not going to hear JT65 folks trying to compete with us during a 
contest.

Indeed, it has been my experience that it is we CW and SSB operators, 
whether contesters or DXers, who ignore the presence of those using 
digital modes before we dump our pileups and contesting opeations onto 
their long recognized frequencies. Most guys running JT65 are decent CW 
operators, and even those who are not can at least recognize CW when 
they hear it. But how many CW and SSB ops recognize PSK31, JT65, FSK441, 
or ISCAT when they hear it?

JT65 occupies about 200 Hz bandwidth, and it's not at all uncommon for 
there to be a half dozen QSOs going on in the 2.5kHz bandwidth 
associated with a SSB rig running those modes. And believe me, if you're 
running those modes, you are listening to what your sound card is trying 
to decode, and you know for sure when a CW or SSB station is in that 
passband.

As to JT65 moving -- as N2JDQ noted, there's been a lot of JT65 activity 
on160M for quite a while, most or all of it between 1838 and 1840, and 
most of us have been completely unaware of it.  I certainly was until 
three days ago, and I've been active enough on 160M since moving to W6 
six years ago that I've worked 120 countries from here on 160M and won 
multiple contests for my ARRL section on both CW and SSB.

73, Jim K9YC