Dear all,
at the next IARU Regon I Interim Meeting (Vienna, 16-17 April
2016) there is a proposal that concerns the 630 m band:
It is recommended that beacons will be accepted
in the plan of usage of the 472 - 479 kHz band (630 m) in addition to
the Recommendation VA14_C4_REC_02: 476 - 477 kHz beacons –
maximum bandwidth 200 Hz. Maximum power output 1 W EIRP. Beacon proposals should adhere
to beacon recommendations in the IARU Region 1 HF Managers' Handbook,
and should be approved by the IARU Region 1 Beacon Coordinator
(introduced by NRRL)
Besides the fact that I am not a fan of the urge to put everything into strict rules
and I have doubts about the usefulness of beacons
(there are dozens of NDB's in and near the 630 m band), I
do fear that an "official" beacon band might attract people or clubs to
put up a nice "tech project" and leave us with the QRM.
The targeted range (476-477 kHz) is de facto used for QRSS, a some
"wideband" CW beacons can cause a lot of harm.
I wonder if NRRL consulted the few Norwegian hams that are active on
630 m and if other in societies the band users were asked for advice?
73, Rik ON7YD - OR7T
