OT: Band congestion

[DOUGLAS ZWIEBEL]

Sandy said:
We CW "casual QSO" people do have trouble with RTTY people all over the place.

Huh?  CW is allowed on all HF frequencies (except 60).  If RY (or
contesting or whatever) is "in the way," just move up the band.

de Doug KR2Q
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[AC7AC]

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[Julius Fazekas n2wn]

Ron,

It's interesting that this debate seems to be perpetual in nature. I've read complaints in magazines back into the 1950s about contesting and spectrum usage.

I think your first line aptly describes the situation, the few versus the many. Although, I would postulate the one should include the sunspot count in that observation. Keep in mind that some of the larger contests are reporting 10s of thousands of unique calls participating in an event. Needless to say, if say 20 is the only open band for a DX contest EVERYONE will be there. CQ WW DX is probably the best example of just how insane that can get.

At this juncture in the solar cycle, everyone needs to keep in mind that 80/40/20 bear the bulk of Ham activity. One can throw 60/30/17 into the mix, by agreement contesting is NOT allowed on those bands.

I would also suggest that the VAST majority of contesters are aware of other activities on the air concurrently. The vast MAJORITY will QSY, or send QRL? or move. Too, this assumes they are even hearing the stations being QRMed.

As to the "bad eggs", what can one say? Look at how long it takes for the FCC to revoke malicious operator's licenses... When was the last time you saw an OO card or report? The contest community does try to police it's own, but it is a Sisyphean task. Too, how do you enforce any ruling?

This debate will continue as long as Ham Radio exists and folks feel they have exclusive rights to specific times and frequencies and modes. Emergency communications trumps everything. Short of that, or the the regulating authorities around the world assigning specific HR frequencies to each individual, the majority will continue to rule in any given situation.

73,
Julius
n2wn

Ron D'Eau Claire wrote

-----Original Message-----
Sandy said:
We CW "casual QSO" people do have trouble with RTTY people all over the
place.

Huh?  CW is allowed on all HF frequencies (except 60).  If RY (or
contesting or whatever) is "in the way," just move up the band.

de Doug KR2Q

------------------------

Easily said, but hard in practice when the relatively few non-contest
stations are scattered in tiny pockets over hundreds of KHz of wall-to-wall
contesting that is constantly moving about in waves without regard to the
common frequencies within the bands used daily by nets and other activities.


Of course we need room for contesters. Contesting is popular, but it's only
one Ham activity.

It's not practical for contesters to make sure they never QRM someone else
when they transmit. It's also not practical to try to use the Ham bands for
normal QSOs and nets, leaving plenty of spectrum around us, when contesters
are roaming the same frequencies, frequently using specialized,
state-of-the-art equipment.

Contesting itself is being threatened by its own popularity. The more it
gets in the way of other activities the closer we are to more rules limiting
contest activity. Such rules could be demanded by courts representing Hams
who object to being denied their normal use of the bands, or by government
agencies who consider trained Amateur Radio volunteers and our frequency
allocations one of their important resources.

The Elecraft reflector isn't the place to explore the options, but it is an
issue I hope we handle ourselves through our national Amateur Radio
organizations rather than waiting for someone else to do it for us.

Ron AC7AC

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