RadioBanter - View Single Post - CW-forever Guys are gonna go balistic!

[email protected]

wrote:
KØHB wrote:
"Alun L. Palmer" wrote
73 de Alun, N3KIP

(20wpm Extra, 100% phone op)

Alun,

With all due respect, your signature line kind of reveals your agenda. We
aren't talking about Extra's who don't use CW/rtty/data. The folks we're
talking about here are Generals, the most populous HF license class in the US.
On 75m they have just had their CW/rtty/data spectrum reduced by 2/3rds.. That's
outrageous!

73, de Hans, K0HB

Here, I'll have a go.

When the new changes go into effect:

Generals gain 50 kHz of 'phone but lose 150 kHz of cw/rtty (1:3 ratio
of gained/lost bandspace)
Advanceds gain 75 kHz of 'phone but lose 100 kHz of cw/rtty (3:4 ratio)
Extras gain 150 kHz of 'phone but lose 150 kHz of cw/rtty (1:1)
Novices and codetested Techs gain 75 kHz in one part of the band but
lose 75 kHz elsewhere (3:2)

Do you see the disparity, particularly for Generals? Why should it
exist? What did Generals do to merit losing so much spectrum?

Failed to upgrade is the trite answer.

Why can't the low end of 75 be moved 50 kHz instead of 150 kHz, and the
lower limit of each 'phone subband moved down 50 kHz? Then, each
license class would gain as many kHz of 'phone as they lose CW/rtty.
1:1 ratio for everyone.

If you don't think 50 kHz is enough, make it 75 kHz. The point is that
the most populous license class on the band *loses* the most total kHz!
The ratio is 1 kHz gained for 3 kHz lost - why?

The error is attaching the same value to General cw/rtty space per Khz
as you're attaching to their phone space per Khz. Which it is not.
Unless I'm 'way off the mark the vast majority of Generals won't miss
the cw/rtty space at all and they'll be delighted with their new phone
space. Note the lack of Generals expressing any opinions on the
subject. If they're not in here complaining about losing cw/rtty space
why should us OF Extras care about the subject one way or the other?

How much will 3600-3700 be used when it is Extra-only?

We'll find out soon enough won't we? Then again the new 3600 band edge
could well be just a placeholder for "things to come" rather than just
another conventional expansion of phone space. This R&O has too many
oddities in it like this one for me to believe that the FCC is finished
"streamlining the service". Maybe it's the result of the ARRLs
pestering the FCC to publish a response to the NPRMs. So the FCC did
and damn the torpedoes so this is what we got. For now. Bought the FCC
more time to quietly come up with their "real" omnibus NPRM/R&O?

---

One more question:

Why isn't rtty/data - particularly wider-than-1 kHz-data - allowed in
the 'phone bands? Or rather, why should that restriction remain,
particularly on a band that will be 4:1 phone/narrow modes? How are
those modes any different from SSTV or CW in terms of compatibility?

It seems to me that a combination voice-data mode would have all sorts
of uses in amateur radio. Imagine being in QSO with someone on SSB, and
being able to send a data file to them without having to QSY. In fact,
with a properly-designed rig, the data could be sent simultaneously on
the opposite sideband, or on the suppressed-carrier frequency if a mode
like PSK31 were used for data. Yet under current rules none of that is
allowed, and the 80/75 bandspace where data modes will be allowed for
*any* class of license will decrease from 250 kHz to 100 kHz - why?

73 de Jim, N2EY

w3rv