Post by Renae/k9do on Dec 15, 2006 18:44:01 GMT
from the ARRL;
Amateur Community Transitions Smoothly to New Allocations
NEWINGTON, CT, Dec 15, 2006 -- With some confusion but little fanfare, the amateur community took occupancy of more commodious HF phone subbands as the so-called "omnibus" Report and Order (R&O) in WT Docket 04-140 kicked in December 15 at one minute past midnight Eastern Time. Among other things, the wide-ranging R&O inflated the overall phone allocations on 75 and 40 meters and provided Generals with a little additional phone spectrum on 15 meters. On 75 meters, where the phone band expansion came at the expense of spectrum that had been allocated to CW, RTTY and data modes, some operators camped on CW above the new 3.600 MHz narrowband/wideband boundary to count down the switch.
"Anyone on that wants last CW es first SSB?" pleaded one operator as the minutes ticked away. He'd been working a string of stations on CW as he waited for the change to become effective. When the appointed time arrived, he simply switched to SSB and carried on in that mode. There was no sudden and massive onslaught of phone stations, however, and several CW contacts, interspersed among the slowly growing number of SSB signals, continued largely unhindered.
Unconfirmed reports indicated that some operators -- perhaps out of confusion regarding the effective time or a lack of concern over any possible consequences -- fired up on the new phone segments well in advance of the actual band reallocations. Judging from those heard in the eastern US, everyone was enjoying -- and even wisecracking about -- the additional elbow room.
"It's just like up the band," quipped one operator attempting a QSO in the expanded portion of the 40-meter phone band quipped. "It's too crowded down here!"
The station he was working pointed out that some CW operators were still using the segment. "They're gonna try to mess us up," he predicted. That did not appear to be happening, by and large.
Amateur Community Transitions Smoothly to New Allocations
NEWINGTON, CT, Dec 15, 2006 -- With some confusion but little fanfare, the amateur community took occupancy of more commodious HF phone subbands as the so-called "omnibus" Report and Order (R&O) in WT Docket 04-140 kicked in December 15 at one minute past midnight Eastern Time. Among other things, the wide-ranging R&O inflated the overall phone allocations on 75 and 40 meters and provided Generals with a little additional phone spectrum on 15 meters. On 75 meters, where the phone band expansion came at the expense of spectrum that had been allocated to CW, RTTY and data modes, some operators camped on CW above the new 3.600 MHz narrowband/wideband boundary to count down the switch.
"Anyone on that wants last CW es first SSB?" pleaded one operator as the minutes ticked away. He'd been working a string of stations on CW as he waited for the change to become effective. When the appointed time arrived, he simply switched to SSB and carried on in that mode. There was no sudden and massive onslaught of phone stations, however, and several CW contacts, interspersed among the slowly growing number of SSB signals, continued largely unhindered.
Unconfirmed reports indicated that some operators -- perhaps out of confusion regarding the effective time or a lack of concern over any possible consequences -- fired up on the new phone segments well in advance of the actual band reallocations. Judging from those heard in the eastern US, everyone was enjoying -- and even wisecracking about -- the additional elbow room.
"It's just like up the band," quipped one operator attempting a QSO in the expanded portion of the 40-meter phone band quipped. "It's too crowded down here!"
The station he was working pointed out that some CW operators were still using the segment. "They're gonna try to mess us up," he predicted. That did not appear to be happening, by and large.