> band. Also his favorite frequency was 1.985
> for a CW net he ran there for a decade. One of the
problems with
> segments is the spot frequency and restricted use on 160
in many parts
> of the world. This would create a problem especially
during contests
> unless the stations under these rules cold be encouraged
to operate
> split.
Herb and others,
160 is primarily a local and moderate distance band, it is
not a DX band. Thinking 160 is a DX band, or that DX'ers or
occasional DX contacts are more important than they are, and
using that as an excuse to rationalize the silly situation
we have now will only wind up causing the "wars" you claim
the present disorganization will prevent!
Like it or not in the next few years the higher bands will
close, and we will have a flood of people interested in
using 160 for the primary use it is good for. That use is
local or regional operation, not occasional contacts on SSB
with a European or even the more common CW contacts with DX.
DX and DXers and contests and contesters are far down the
list of importance in planning a band where 95% of the
occupants care less about either.
One only has to listen from a quiet location to see how
silly this has become.
Most "SSB DX hopefuls" don't hear the SSB DX if it is
jumping out at them. Despite that they will park on
1840-1850 with the hope that someone will work them, not
realizing there are Europeans or other DX under them hoping
the same (also in local ragchews). Generally this results is
prime areas occupied with local QSO's in the faint hope that
an occasion S-9 2000 mile DX station will call in over the
noise.
This isn't the fault of anyone that is difficult and
infrequent to work DX on 160 SSB, it's just a fact of life
that SSB has significantly less talk-power than CW and that
SSB receivers by requirement must have maybe 10dB more noise
floor than CW or other narrow mode receivers.
Reserving a space for an occasional use at the expense of
encouraging more common and better fit use is silly.
When the sunspots decline and the lower bands fill with
people who don't know the difference between a dot and a
dash or a warble from PSK and a bird tweeting, we will come
to regret not have narrow mode segmentation. It would be
most unfortunate if narrow digital modes and general CW
operation paid the price for short-sighted narrow-minded
thinking today, where we plane a whole band based on the
chance one or two people might loose one country a year or
their name in some obscure column in QST or CQ with one or
two more multipliers than they would have had with a normal
bandplan.
I'd wager a good USA SSB op could win any USA SSB contest on
160 without breaking any bandplans or rules, even if others
busted the plans. The whole concept of planning a band based
on people who mostly park on DX and CQ not hear them is not
what I would call reasonable band usage.
73 Tom
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