Dick WC1M wrote:
>Ah, just in time for the sunspot peak to make 40m our fourth-best HF contest
>band. Looks like the compromise will help CW contesting more than it will
>help SSB contesting. Once the broadcasters are gone, CW ops could use the
>whole 200 KHz, though in practice I would expect a gentleman's agreement to
>stop at 7150. For SSB, there will be only 50 KHz of broadcast-free spectrum.
>That'll be some crowded space! I wonder if there will be a move to petition
>FCC to lower the phone allocation to 7150?
Dick,
As you suspected, you're not the only person thinking about how best
to use the 40M changes that will occur six years from now. (I'm sure
certain people at ARRL, such as K1ZZ are too, hi!). Here's my
preference - but no doubt there are angles I haven't thought of.
40M SSB contesters and DXers have always been hamstrung by the FCC
keeping USA Lower 48 above 7150, and ITU keeping Region 1 below 7100.
So we have to work split, irritating all the U.S.local ragchewers -
especially during contests.
(My XYL is tired of answering ill-tempered L/L calls).
The least efficiently used portion of the Region 2 amateur band is
7100-7150, largely because of the high BC occupancy. It's also way
under-utilized by Novice and Tech-Plus licensees, and those folks can
now easily upgrade to 5wpm General and use the 7025+ segment. In
preparation for 2009, I suggest the ARRL petitions the FCC to assign
7100-7150 to the Stateside end of intercontinental SSB QSOs.
Not much would happen initially due to the BC QRM, but as that slowly
goes away, and all those Novices and Tech-Plus of past years graduate
to General, SSB could move down from among the ragchewers above 7150
and have some clearer space, even though still operating split.
But in 2009 the rest of the world gets spectrum rights up to 7200,
and at last we would have a true worldwide SSB contest/DX window,
7100-7150, with no more split, and negligible QRM from other modes
and local operations!
73, John, NT5C.
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