Not sure what ARRLs motivation is. Maybe get more boat owners to become hams
so they can use the mail boxes, maybe sell more ads for special modem equipment
or software,... But ham radio is (or at least was) intended to be for public
service such as emergency communications, message traffic, education, etc.
many of the contests, such as FD, are intended to stress people and equipment
to test readiness in emergencies. The various contests do the same but use
very short exchanges which may or may not be realistic in an emergency when
local entities need to pass larger messages or files. The MARS emphasis on
modes such as WINMOR (WL2K) and interoperability are for local agency support
in emergencies. Mailbox stations exist for that purpose on dedicated
frequencies. The gov't is pushing for interoperability between MARS services
as well as amateur, and using both internet and RF. The objective is to provide
some level of comms if the internet should go down. So the FCC wou
ld probably be leaning toward this objective. Collecting RTTY contest
certificates helps ensure equipment, but can old school RTTY serve local
agencies sending volumes of traffic larger than typical RST and number?
So with that as an objective, I could see defining a handful of specific
frequency channels in the ham bands for wider bandwidth comms, much like MARS
uses fixed frequencies. You couldn't deviate from those specific frequencies
much. Mailbox stations would be assigned to these channels based on geographic
location for example. Propagation prediction software would select bands and
channels based on time and solar conditions (WINMOR already does this). And to
make things more convenient, the frequencies chosen could be those that are
accessible by entry level licensees, which might move them further up the
bands. So there wouldn't necessarily be point to point "chat" QSOs on 3khz
modes at any arbitrary frequency. Enforcing frequency usage to only allocated
channels could be a challenge however, but it is doable.
My 2 cents worth.
Jim N4BE. NNN0PIJ
Sent from my iPad
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