Topband: TB digital

[Joe Subich, W4TV]

On 9/17/2012 8:53 AM, mstangelo at comcast.net wrote:
 >
 > I problem is the IARU region 1, 2 and 3 band plans do not line up.

No, the problem is that Americans still believe in the fiction of 
"priority for international QSOs".  This means that New England will
be working their local Europeans while Caribbean to Alaska, W7, VE6/7
or even W5/8/9/0 to EU and Africa will be precluded by the W1/W2/VE1
stations working the same few EU stations night after night and contest
after contest.

Activity on any mode will concentrate where the DX is.  Look at RTTY
on 40 meters - there is very little US/Region 2 activity left in the
traditional 7080 KHz range - it has all moved into the "international
area" around 7035-7040.  The solution on both 160 and 40 meters is to
move SSB *UP* and create a reasonable,  10-15 KHz (certainly more
than 2 or 3 KHz) wide digital enclave between the CW and SSB centers
of activity.

US band plans have been historically W1/W2 centered - witness the
original 160 DX window at 1825-1830 then 1830-1835 and ARRL's flat
out opposition to separate allocations for CW/SSB on 160 in the early
1980's and push for unregulated automated digital systems in the late
1980's (I too, have correspondence with the Commission on *both*
matters).  Unless the attitude to spectrum planning becomes what
works best for all users and organizations like ARRL put their clout
behind making bandplans work of all user instead pf just the favored
few we will be having this debate for another 30 years.

73,

    ... Joe, W4TV


On 9/17/2012 8:53 AM, mstangelo at comcast.net wrote:
> Tom,
>
> I problem is the IARU region 1, 2 and 3 band plans do not line up. The region 1 160 band starts at 1.810Mhz so the IARU Region2 pansis useless for DX digital communications. All regions should align modes.
>
> If ALL l regions decide on 1830 to1840 for digital modes we should follow the recommendation.
>
> Digital modes are the future. It will give those hams who have limited real estate and monetary resources to enjoy the topband.
>
> Mike N2MS
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Tom W8JI <w8ji at w8ji.com>
> To: Topband at contesting.com
> Sent: Mon, 17 Sep 2012 11:33:03 -0000 (UTC)
> Subject: Re: Topband: TB digital
>
> I'm not surprised some of us don't know the band or history of use, or have
> not read IARU bandplans. What I wish we could do, is be a little nicer to
> each other as we learn things from each other.
>
> <snip>
> _______________________________________________
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