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.
