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#1
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Band plans
The recent discussions got me to thinking about how the current bands
are partitioned. Taking a quick look at the current US allocations indicates these portions of the HF bands in which phone is not allowed (what I would have called "CW bands" in another era): 160: None 80: 3500-3600 20% 40: 7000-7125 41% 30: None 20: 14100-14150 42% 17: 18068-18110 42% 15: 21000-21200 44% 12: 24890-24940 40% 10: 28000-28300 18% The conclusion is that, with some exceptions, an individual who is only interested in running SSB is excluded from around 40% of most of the US allocations. Is that reasonable? Is this bandplan maximizing the use of the resource? One definition of "optimum allocation" is providing the same usability for operators of every mode. In order to accomplish this, one needs to know the number of people who wish to use each mode. It's not possible to directly and accurately obtain this number, but perhaps counting the number of QSOs in progress might approximate it. In the absence of any data, I'm not going to speculate about whether 40% is a reasonable number. Have there been any attempts at measuring utilization in an objective way? 73, Steve KB9X |
#2
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Steve Bonine wrote:
In the absence of any data, I'm not going to speculate about whether 40% is a reasonable number. Have there been any attempts at measuring utilization in an objective way? How about narrow band modes on the lower 1/3 of a band, wide band on the upper 1/3, and any mode allowed in the middle 1/3? It would be interesting to see what happens in the middle 1/3. -- 73, Cecil http://www.w5dxp.com |
#3
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Band plans
On Mar 29, 8:20�am, Steve Bonine wrote:
The recent discussions got me to thinking about how the current bands are partitioned. �Taking a quick look at the current US allocation s indicates these portions of the HF bands in which phone is not allowed: 160: �None 80: � 3500-3600 � 20% 40: � 7000-7125 � 41% 30: � None 20: � 14100-14150 42% Typo Alert: should be 14000-14150 17: � 18068-18110 42% 15: � 21000-21200 44% 12: � 24890-24940 40% 10: � 28000-28300 18% The conclusion is that, with some exceptions, an individual who is only interested in running SSB is excluded from around 40% of most of the US allocations. � 40%? Let's do the math... Setting aside the five channels called 60 meters, an Extra Class ham in Region 2 has 3750 kHz of spectrum available in 9 bands: 160: 1800-2000 80/75: 3500-4000 40: 7000-7300 30: 10100-10150 20: 14000-14350 17: 18068-18168 15: 21000-21450 12: 24890-24990 10: 28000-29700 Of that 3750 kHz, 2743 kHz is available for voice modes, most typically SSB and AM. That's 73.1% of the available HF/MF amateur spectrum available for voice modes, and only 26.9% unavailable. 26.9%, not 40%. Of course 160, 80/75 and 10 meters skew the numbers slightly. But there is another factor to consider: DX 'phone. It is common for DX stations to work 'phone down below the US 'phone bands, to avoid QRM from US hams, who greatly outnumber the DX. So when a band is open, the top end of the non-phone segments are frequently full of DX phone QSOs, and unusable by US CW/data operators. Every time the US phone subbands have been widened, the 'phone DXers have moved lower too. The end result of this is that, when the bands are open for DX, the amount of band available to non-phone modes is effectively reduced below that 26.9% Is that reasonable? �Is this bandplan maximizing the use of the resource? Depends what you mean by "maximize". The digital/data folks are squeezed into only 1217 kHz of the 3750, which is 32.45%. One definition of "optimum allocation" is providing the same usability for operators of every mode. But is that a definition we hams should use without question? Should the users of wide modes be rewarded by getting more and more of a limited band? Imagine if the price you paid for gas depended on the MPG of the car you drove, with low MPG cars paying less and high MPG cars paying more. Or suppose gasoline were rationed, and ration cards distributed the same way. Would that make the best use of a limited fuel supply, by rewarding those who use the most? �In order to accomplish this, one needs to know the number of people who wish to use each mode. �It's not possible to directly and accurately obtain this number, but perhaps counting the number of QSOs in progress might approximate it. That depends on when a sample is taken, though. During a contest or other operating activity that favors one mode, the results may be very unrepresentative. In the absence of any data, I'm not going to speculate about whether 40% is a reasonable number. �Have there been any attempts at measuring utilization in an objective way? One way to consider is how the bands are used in a situation like Field Day, where voice, data and Morse Code modes are all in use simultaneously, and records of how many QSOs actually resulted available. Of course the results are somewhat skewed by the fact that 12, 17 and 30 meters are not part of Field Day, that FD isn't just HF, and the different skill levels needed to use various modes. 73 de Jim, N2EY |
#4
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Band plans
Steve Bonine wrote:
One definition of "optimum allocation" is providing the same usability for operators of every mode. In order to accomplish this, one needs to know the number of people who wish to use each mode. It's not possible to directly and accurately obtain this number, but perhaps counting the number of QSOs in progress might approximate it. In the absence of any data, I'm not going to speculate about whether 40% is a reasonable number. Have there been any attempts at measuring utilization in an objective way? The USA band restrictions serve a very usefull purpose for the rest of the world. It gives us a chance of finding a frequency that is not full of american chatter. If the band is open the USA general section is almost invariably solid with high power QRM. g4jci |
#6
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Band plans
On Mar 29, 1:18�pm, Dave Heil wrote:
One question which begs asking is why foreign phone stations should have a shelter from U.S. stations when U.S. stations have no similar shelter available to them? � Because there are so many more US stations than foreign ones in any particular country (except Japan 4th class). Working the USA is 1 DXCC country. Here's a similar question: Why do 'phone stations need to be protected from data signals but CW signals don't need that protection? IOW, why not allow data modes in the 'phone bands? 73 de Jim, N2EY |
#7
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#8
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-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1 In writes: [...] Working the USA is 1 DXCC country. [...] Actually, according to the DXCC list: http://www.arrl.org/awards/dxcc/dxcclist.txt somewhere between 3 and 19 DXCC "entities," depending on how you define "USA." Three, if you consider only the 50 states: K,W,N,AA-AK United States of America KL7 Alaska KH6-7 Hawaii Fifteen more if you consider territories, possessions, and commonwealths: KH0 Mariana Islands KH1 Baker, Howland Islands KH2 Guam KH3 Johnston Island KH4 Midway Island KH5 Palmyra, Jarvis Islands KH5/K Kingman Reef KH7K Kure Island KH8 American Samoa KH8 Swains Island KH9 Wake Island KP1 Navassa Island KP2 U.S. Virgin Islands KP3,4 Puerto Rico KP5 Desecheo Island And then of course there's this one, under U.S. control, but energetically debated over whether it's a "jurisdiction" of the United States: KG4 Guantanamo Bay - -- 73, Paul W. Schleck, K3FU http://www.novia.net/~pschleck/ Finger for PGP Public Key -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.5 (SunOS) iD8DBQFH8DkO6Pj0az779o4RAvzKAJwM3eNKVtrsHya37HKjto exGrpNUQCgx0Ae HFWX7VrY7xr7bmGLRWPpMro= =eItq -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- |
#9
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Band plans
On Mar 30, 7:37Â pm, Dave Heil wrote:
wrote: On Mar 29, 1:18�pm, Dave Heil wrote: One question which begs asking is why foreign phone stations should have a shelter from U.S. stations when U.S. stations have no similar shelter available to them? � Because there are so many more US stations than foreign ones in any particular country (except Japan 4th class). Working the USA is 1 DXCC country. That's an explanation, though perhaps not a valid one.  We W's manage to work all the DX there is to work despite the presence of strong QRM from W QRM--both those who are ragchewing and those who are working DX. Sort of. Remember that often the DX is transmitting outside the US 'phone subband. Things aren't the same as in the old days when many DX stations were rock bound or ran lesser quality equipment or had less than optimal antenna systems.  In fact much of the world runs the same Kenwood, Icom, Yaesu and Ten-Tec equipment as the American stations. Good point!  The garden variety foreign stations sometimes QRM's the rare stuff. Many of the garden variety foreigners are also in the chase for that same rare DX. Agreed. The time is long past for divided phone band segments.  I believe that the phone bands should be harmonized worldwide. Be careful what you ask for. In much if not most of the rest of the world, there are no subbands-by- mode. The amateur regs simply state which modes are allowed on each band, and leave the rest up to gentleman's agreements. Harmonizing the US phone subbands to the rest of the world would mean either imposing US regs on other countries, or removing subbands-by- modes from US regs. It seems to me that countries which do not have subbands-by-mode would resist following the US example and adding them, if for no other reason than that they'd no longer have a refuge from US 'phone QRM. Proposals to remove subbands-by-mode from the US regs have met with clear and strong opposition from US hams. The recent proposal from the "Communications Think Tank", which would have eliminated subbands-by- mode, was strongly opposed in comments to FCC - so much that CTT removed the proposal. Any such proposal means "data in the phone bands", too. Here's a similar question: Why do 'phone stations need to be protected from data signals but CW signals don't need that protection? IOW, why not allow data modes in the 'phone bands? I think the answer to that is that CW ops are typically using narrow receiving filters while phone ops may be listening through 2.4 or 2.7 KHz filters.  A little of that digital signal cacophony can wreak havoc with a phone QSO. Can't such interference be dealt with using a notch filter? A PSK31 signal is only a few dozen Hz wide, for example. Even more basic, isn't it the responsibility of all operators to avoid transmitting on top of existing QSOs? Why would digital ops behave differently in this regard when faced with 'phone signals vs. CW signals? 73 de Jim, N2EY |
#10
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