I am sorry but I did not express myself very clearly in the last couple of posts and there were lots of typos. I will attempt to explain why I am opposed to digital voice/SSB on 630m.

 

The main reason is that although it is technically possible it is impractical as it will take up a disproportionate amount of bandwidth which will effectively deny other people the space to operate.

 

The idea that it could be daylight hours only, VOX only etc etc as a gentlemen’s agreement is wildly optimistic in light of the abuse of the other gentlemen’s agreements called bandplans.

 

I also feel strongly that we are on the bands as a privilege and not a right. I know for sure that there is a lot of abuse of license conditions and have heard ops openly admit to running 1kw+ in order to work DX or to ‘level the playing field’ in contests. That sort of abuse will only do us harm and although some argue that Ofcom are not interested in such things let me assure you that they are.

 

The new 630m band is allocated on a secondary basis to aeronautical mobile users. There are still NDBs within the band and some countries impose restriction or deny access to 630m altogether because of the shared use. It will only take somebody to either accidentally or deliberately QRM to an aeronautical user for us to lose the band or face more restrictions. I can see the headlines now!

 

Finally, and I will not post here again on this subject, I am not anti SSB, anti contests, anti much else, but do believe we need a responsible attitude to how we use the bands. We should not be constantly pushing for change to suit our own interests or deliberately flouting the law, in the long term that will only lead to loss of privilege not more access.

 

And to answer an aggressive direct email which suggested I **** off and play somewhere else, yes I do operate digital modes and have done for 40+ years starting with a Creed 7B. I also use SSB, CW, QRP and QRO and even microwaves.

 

Colin - G8FRA/M5FRA

 

m5fra.org.uk