G'day Mal,

I must admit you DO have a unique sense of humour !!!   Either that or the
virus program I run now has cleared the BIG KEV virus off my machine.   Up
until just recently any machine generated mode was referred to in all YOUR
posts as "lazy man's CW".   Apparently now your posts are not being
corrupted by the BIG KEV virus and no longer contain those "lazy man's CW"
references.   Or have you become "lazy" too ?     Perhaps I should refer to
you as BIG LAZY KEV :-)

G'day All,

As far as the bandplan for the UK band.   I can't comment on the technical
aspects of it as I live in a relatively unpolluted environment down-under RF
wise (but don't worry - we are working our way to world standard in this
regard).    However, I think I can comment on the attitude displayed on this
reflector.    I was going to say something like "come on girls!!!", but you
know I wouldn't do that as it is PI and besides, it insults the maturity of
that half of the population.

As far as I am concerned our bunch of people who inhabit these areas of
interest are no different from the general population in spite of the notion
by some that we are "special".    As such we are subject to the whole range
of attitudes, behaviours and follies of the general population (at least
that is my excuse for my behaviour :-).     There are the pioneers, the
curious, the experimenters, the casual passerbys, the detractors, the
nay-sayers, the certificate hunters, the smiley-stamp hunters, the
rule-makers and the self-appointed guardians of right.    Also there are
those who have the temerity to be overcome by the sheer fun of what we do
and wander into the nice neat world of others from time to time.

This kind of "turf war" bickering is infantile in a world where we are
subjected to all kinds of challenges to our beloved hobby from commercial
interests for spectrum space.    All the energy spent beating each other
over the head about where the line is drawn in the dirt in the playground
will all be wasted when we wake up and find there is no longer a playground.

My observation of "gentleman's agreements" is they have often been hijacked
be a vocal minority to further their own interests.   Last time I checked CW
has a free run to virtually all the spectrum space on the conventional HF
bands, while other modes are cramped into smaller sections.  Unless things
have changed drastically, the same large-scale occupation of the UK band
exists for CW now.  To suggest that CW proponents have been "run off the
band" is ludicrous.   I think it is more a case of the shoe being on the
other foot.    Of course, one response to others showing interest in other
modes other than your own favourite mode is to pack up your marbles and go
off in a huff.     Or you can harass, harangue and privately abuse (by
email) those who would dare to experiment with other less familiar modes
(until, of course, you have decided that the time is right for you to adopt
that mode).    This is standard procedure for the managerial or born-to-rule
types.   Pour scorn on the efforts of others when they are trying to develop
new ideas and then when you are good and ready, adopt the those same efforts
as your own discovery, and then pour scorn again.

In the submissions to gain access to these LF bands over there, did the
weight of argument lie with engaging in a mode which (for good reason) has
existed for ages, or did it lie with expressing a desire to experiment and
develop new modes (at least at an amateur level) ?    To get my
authorisation I had to argue that I was engaging in new work.    Ironically,
when I was pressed (I was refused authorisation initially), I didn't cite
the UK example to support my argument that new work could still be done - I
cited the US LowFers and Europeans as examples of the experimentation that
could be done.   This apparently won the day for me.

Interestingly, there have been those who have tried to hold back the
pioneers going off into the experimental wilderness giving all sorts of
reasons why those experimenters should not venture outside the nice neat
world which these nay-sayers are comfortable with.  After those pioneers
have weathered the trials of establishing a pathway, those same detractors
come along and drive full-speed down the pathway cleared for them by the
pioneers and now detract the pioneering efforts by saying "I did that
journey in half the time you did"  Huh???

In any case, I think in an experimental arena in which we are supposed to
operate, the ultimate criteria is "natural selection".   If a mode is
superior as judged by the majority of users then that mode will prevail to
such time as something else shows promise (or, heaven forbid, just be fun).
At the same time those who want to experiment with other modes should be
allowed to do this with mature tolerance.

I am sure I have an article somewhere which details, from memory,  the work
way back in 1997 of Andy (G4JNT) and Peter (G3PLX) using 25mHz BW on 73kHz.
They had apparently pioneered narrowband stuff and hopefully will continue
to pioneer in the future despite opposition from some quarters.

(P.S. you would think with having had bushfires on three sides for nigh on
two weeks I would be wary of throwing petrol onto the reflector fire - but
then I didn't ever claim to be smart :-)

73s Steve VK2ZTO