On Sun, 11 May 2008 13:20:26 -0000
"mal" wrote

>  The trend on 500 seems to be Beacon mode and reply
> via email or watch your own signal on a Grabber !!!!!!
> Real QSO'S on this band are very rare. Is this what was intended when
> permits were issued to experiment on 500?


If the data gathered, by the methodology chosen, is valuable to the
operator of the station concerned and aids them in their stated
experimental aims then YES!

Can you point out anywhere in the Special Research Permit a clause that
restricts stations only to real time, 2-way, manual, hand sent
telegraphy by on/off keying?

I can't. 

As long as the licence conditions relating to station identification,
power (remember there is an ERP limit... some stations seem to forget
that...) and mode of transmission are followed then operators are
perfectly entitled to radiate signals intended for reception by other
stations even if the return path for the "contact" is not by the same
method as that of the transmission itself. 

If information is gleaned which helps the operator of the experimental
station transmitting on 500kHz (or helps the remote receiving station
in their own research/experiment/self-training) then that's entirely
within the intention and spirit of the special permit.

I suspect every SRP holder has different stated purposes for their
research, and have been granted a permit by OFCOM to persue that aim.

It is not your place to decide whether their aims are valid or not, or
the techniques they choose to persue those aims.

OFCOM and the RSGB have granted the SRP, and it is up to the
individual operator to act in such a way as to gain maximum value from
any operation on the band.

J