Topband: Fishing beacons redux

[Tom W8JI]

> Don't you wonder what would happen, if 500 Topbanders all wrote a NICE, 
> POLITE email to all the manufacturers of these devices,
> and in, say, 5-10 sentences or less simply asked them if they would mind 
> excluding 1.8-2 MHz because it ANNOYS THE HELL
> (oops, I mean.......) it makes it difficult for us to continue with our 
> propagation studies?

Well, they should not be using them between 1810 and 1850 over most of the 
world, and radio location is secondary even in ITU region 3.

Secondary means they are not supposed to cause problems to primary (which is 
amateur), and have no protection from primary users.

I think the problem is much like the illegal CB radios, in that the end user 
has no concept what frequency means. So the problem would have to be 
addressed by the manufacturer. It would be nice if someone talked to the 
manufacturers. Short of that, if people lose enough of these things from 
interference or have interference issues, they might stop using 1800-1850. 
Without problems, there is no incentive to follow rules.

I've even heard people on boats running USB phone calls between 1800 and 
1850, and it is not uncommon to hear fishheads out of Mobile, AL chatting on 
the lower end of 80 meters.

73, Tom