Hello Y'all,
I just wanted to "weigh in" on the discussion of the 40 meter band and
the current need for U.S. stations to work split - I like the present
arrangement since it permits me to feel that my contesting activity
won't disturb the "Ailments, Weather, and 50c5 Nets". ( I have hogs so
of course "Pig Farmers" are held in high regard...).
When the inevitable happens and the entire world is unified on the 40
meter band the band will
loose some of it's magic. The nets which occupy every 1.8 Kc on 20
meters during the day will shift to 40 when the band closes. Frequency
Stealing will be common place and squeezing into the spectrum to push F1
will be tough.
On the band today I limit my CQ'ing to the hours around sunset/sunrise
and someday I might actually get a few answers. Before I call on 40 I
do QRL since I live on the band when it's not a contest weekend. When I
was new to the band I thought it would be great if the U.S. had the same
privledges as the rest of North America. When I got the KW call in 1980
the Callbook said KW was Wake Island (not KW9) so during regular all
band contests I was inundated when calling CQ by U.S. Stations thinking
I was DX!!!! This went on for years and years, long after the Wake
became KH9...I guess there were a lot of old Callbooks out there.
On 40 this doesn't happen. I S&P, look for new stations to work and the
mults seem to take care of themselves. I'm always amazed when I look at
the QSO count that the multi-multi and multi-singles make on the band.
I just tell myself that with an amp, I too could dominate the world with
my signal and make 1,000 + QSO's.
The 40 meter band in its present arrangement makes for some true
challenges and yet provides a place where a little pistol can feel good
about 150+ QSO's.
I forgot to thank all of the stations that hung in there to get the
whole call and report during the CQWW SSB.
It looks like I'll be mobile for CW out in Indiana...That should create
a whole new challenge...
Hmmm....do I run with the old IC-730 (from a garage sale) or the IC-706
(no filters) Hmmm...
73 from Lake Moneysgone, Dan, KW4T
P.S. Who were the ops at XE2DV during CQWW??
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