At the beginning of this news about the forthcoming 472 to 479 ham band, I picked up on the excitement about the whole thing.
But now, days later, after reading all the comments and giving it more thought, I must wonder, "Why in the h__ do the hams of the world want this tiny messy space?
Such a small bandwidth, giving priority to existing beacons, over-whelmed by noise..... does it really have even one use for even one person?
Isn't the experimental band down just a little bit lower already providing whatever this new band would allow?
I am signing off as even half-way interested.
i'd like to see the antenna restrictions lifted off of the 1750m band. there is no real reason for them in this day and age as there is no practical way to make an efficient antenna for 1750m (even if you own lots of farm land) but it would allow for different antenna system designs and experimentation. i also don't know what surrounds that band but some frequency expansion would be nice too. i believe 1 watt is sufficient if the antenna restrictions were lifted. there is nothing that i really know of down there in the basement that loosening of restrictions could cause increased interference to and this idea might have more of a chance than loosening of the am or fm bands. anyone know how well 1750m does with carrier current? seems using neutral loading would make an excellent distribution platform for part 15 am nodes. you could use AM mode and make 1750m to medium wave translators and not need a NRSC limiter at each node as the 1750m would be am and pass the asymmetry along to the am medium wave tx's
"Isn't the experimental band down just a little bit lower already providing whatever this new band would allow?"
Indeed. Besides, a typical carrier will occupy far more than 7khz of bandwidth alone. It will be interesting to see the various methods to limit channel occupation when a carrier signal will take up at least more than half of that 7Khz.
Buzzzz..fizzzz...crackle...pop...FUN! :/
Well it's radio...I guess.
RFB
Yup. It's radio. Why get excited
over 472 to 479?
I don't know. I just think it's cool.
The funny thing is it doesn't really
have to be good for anything - I
just like to think about doing
different things with different kinds
of radios. I guess time will tell us
if 472 to 479 ends up really being
good for anything. I don't know.
I think a lot of things are cool, but
maybe they really aren't.
I just like Morse code because it takes
me back to when I was 17 years old.
And that's all. It's just like tuning up
the DX-60A. A back to 1971 "time machine."
There are so many things I wish I could try
again. Every once in a while, I go back
to my young days with the ham radio.
That's why I do Part 15, too.
I can't think of anything else so I guess
I'll just stop.
Yup.
Bruce, DRS2
very slow rate narrow band digital communications. think of a digital version of cw using computers to encode and decode cw signals with very narrow band on order of few hz bandwidth
Wow, I didn't realize CW was obsolete. I guess I'll throw away my portable qrp gear that I used for 7 days off a motorcycle battery the last time a hurricane came across and I was surrounded by water with no landline and with all the cell towers dead. I don't know what my family will do while they await word of my condition. I guess I'll look for another, more efficient mode of communication that doesn't require a lot of juice to operate.
cw is not obsolete. just on that little sliver of band you'll need something more bandwidth efficient. like qrss
Again I ask....... how can the entire HAM community use ONE (1) spot on the LW dial (475.5kHz)? If a lot of people went on that one slice it would be a garble.
ALSO, Morse Code needs to live forever, if only as the worst case backup plan for radio communication.
It reminds me of a story of some library that put all of it's card catalog on a digital storage disk and something happened to the disk. Too bad they had pitched all their paper cards.
The push to digital broadcasting has been, in my opinion, in many cases pointless. I liked analog TV. I will NOT get digital TV. I love analog AM and FM and if it disappears so will I. I am an analog man. DO NOT CHIP ME.
Oh, I got carried away there for a minute, but let's keep Morse.
Before, I respond - I want to say
to Keith - I like your website and
will try to hear your station via
streaming. You are operating
a format which is of great interest
to me.
I suppose to answer any of these
questions, we'd have to ask the
people that are actually doing
experiments in this general area of the
spectrum.
I know a guy who is a genius - and I've
known him for about 35 years - and he
had special temporary authority to
operate the following experimental
stations:
WD2XNS using the QRSS60 format
on 137.78 kHz with 400 watts,
and WE2XGR/2 using cw on
506.5 kHz, with 1000 watts.
I'll have to look this stuff up.
These stations are off now, and
I believe his STAs have expired.
He lives way out in the sticks, where
there is probably very little noise.
I sense that the receiving set-ups are
software driven.
I know a lot of the transmitters are audio
amplifiers bought off the shelf and they
have been modified for RF use.
I have to go catch a taxi back to home.
I'll be back again.
Bruce, DRS2
"I guess I'll look for another, more efficient mode of communication that doesn't require a lot of juice to operate.
I seriously doubt any emergency response teams are gonna be tuning in to 472-479 Khz signals.
Might have better luck with a cell phone.
RFB
I don't remember what NVIS
stands for, but it's just
close in communication on
80 or 40 meters during the
sunlight hours. Within a
hundred miles or so. Basically,
your signal goes straight up
and straight down (from the
ionosphere, I mean.)
And you can run very low
power. I've done it with
various modes on 80 or 40.
I was just thinking about
the emergency com thing.
No, I don't think anybody
would be doing that on 475 kHz.
Can you imagine the ground radials
you would have to carry along
with you in your back pack?
And the antenna on your portable
rig?
Wow!
Best Wishes,
Bruce, DOGGRADIO STUDIO 2
nvis = near vertical incidental skywave
"Can you imagine the ground radials you would have to carry along with you in your back pack?"
Instead, do what the field radio guys did back in WWII...use whatever is around for antenna and ground.
Besides, these days you got GPS trackers commonly used by mountain hikers and campers. Won't be any severe weather down here affecting GPS satellites upstairs!
There will be a need for base stations in emergency situations, but there are better bands for those applications simply due to the aerial size and wavelengths involved using those much lower frequencies. Portability becomes a problem, not to mention practicality.
Using the worn out card of "great for emergency communications" to get something IS becoming pointless due to better communications technology. Emergency rescue people have infrared and night vision cameras, GPS locators and their own radio communications in touch with their base being dispatched to and from. I doubt any of them will be tagging along a bunch of motorcycle batteries and wire and laptops and stuff while at the same time juggling their rescue gear too.
It might just be better if admitting the truth...the hams just want another piece of spectrum to play with.
The truth hurts doesn't it! :p
RFB
The main purpose for amateur radio has been and always will be experimentation. And as a practising amateur radio operator, I would agree with that. It's quite similar to the reasons for Part 15 in the end. And it's better to allocate the spectrum to people who will actually use it.
"And it's better to allocate the spectrum to people who will actually use it."
I can think of far better sections of the spectrum to be put to use than a mere 7khz of noise filled buzz saw wasteland.
Again, special interest does not serve the whole.
But have fun with it anyway! Just more static and crackle to deal with in the end, and more lobbying to up the power, lift restrictions blah blah.
How about the government let go of all the huge chunks of spectrum that is so quiet and just sits there NOT being used even by them?
Know when your being cheated so next time you might get a better bargain.
RFB