Re: (O.T.) KPH

[Mike Morrow-3]

Ron wrote :

>...the "600 Meter Research Group" that held, for a
>tantalizing-short time, transmitting licenses to work on
>several old maritime frequencies around 500 kc/s. But
>the US Coast Guard objected on principle and our
>privileges were cut short for now even though there was
>no record of any interference.


Odd that the USCG would care.  They ceased guarding 500 kc/s several years
*before* U.S. maritime Morse operations ended on 12 JUL 99.

I heard that Cuba, and perhaps a couple of other countries, claimed
continued use of Morse operations in the 420 to 520 kc/s band and had
objected to re-allocation.

73,
Mike / KK5F

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[Ron D'Eau Claire-2]

True, you can (or could) still hear CW on the maritime bands since not all
countries switched over at the same time. The change actually started years
ago. There were a number of large ships sailing without Radio Officers in
the early 90's during Gulf War I (the last time I worked on shipboard
systems). 1999 was memorable because that was when the US Coast Guard chose
to stop monitoring 500 kc/s for emergency traffic.

There were concerns that some interference could result, but even offers to
mitigate that, just as we must avoid interfering with the primary users on
60 meter frequencies, weren't enough. At this point the ARRL is handling
negotiations for possible future Ham use of frequencies in that part of the
spectrum.

Our interest was primarily in seeing what sort of ranges we could get using
antennas that could be erected on a typical suburban lot, keeping in mind
that an ordinary 1/2 wave dipole is 1,000 feet long on 600 meters! Clearly,
very short, limited-efficiency antennas would be needed. But the advantages
of those frequencies that made them wonderful for maritime - very dependable
communications over relatively short ranges irrespective of general "band
conditions" - suggested they might be a great alternative to VHF for many
uses, including emergency communications.

Ron AC7AC


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