"Dee D. Flint" wrote in
gy.com:


"Alun" wrote in message
...

I beleive the R2 bandplan allows phone down to 7045, same as R1. In R3
it's 7030! R2 hams operatong phone 'on 7050 and lower' are abiding by
the ITU bandplan unless they go below 7045.

Keep in mind that outside the US, those are just band plans. According
to postings I read elsewhere, they are ignored with some regularity.
It becomes even more common to ignore them during some contests.

Dee D. Flint, N8UZE



I can't speak for hams in every country in the world, but being originally
from the UK I would say that most there would be horrified at the idea of
operating phone below 7040, for example. The cutoff used to be 7040 before
they set aside 7035-7045 for RTTY. That is one aspect of it being
voluntary, you will find people who continue to use a frequency after the
bandplan is changed. In a similar way, phone is supposed to be above 14.112
on 20, but it used to be 14.100. The RTTY sections were carved out of the
top of CW and the bottom of phone.

Phone below 7.040 or below 14.100 is not something I hear when I tune
around. It's easy for US hams to form an impression that there are lots of
DX hams operating phone on CW frequencies, but there really aren't. It's
just that few realise how far down phone extends in the IARU bandplans.

Contests are another matter, but that cuts both ways, i.e. you will also
find CW on phone frequencies during CW contests.

73 de Alun, N3KIP (Ex-G8VUK, G0VUK)