Author Archive
FCC Proposes 60 Meter Band Changes
May 8th, 2010 | 
Author: 
The proposed changes in a nutshell are:
- Swap one channel with another frequency due to federal licensee digital traffic which often on this channel
- Increase the power limit from 50 watts PEP to 100 watts PEP
- Allow CW, PSK31, and PACTOR-III modes
I think the first two changes are reasonable. The one frequency often does have digital traffic on it making it unusable much of the time. Going from 50 watts to 100 watts is only 3 db and it shouldn't cause any issues for government stations if interference from 50 watt stations hasn't been a problem.
I do not think PACTOR-III should be allowed on these frequencies at all. Unattended PACTOR operation has been infamous for interfering with amateurs on other bands, especially 40 meters. We don't want to introduce this into a band that we have been walking on eggshells with, avoiding interference with government stations and hoping to get more frequencies and capabilities. I think CW and PSK operation makes sense as they could utilize this small amount of spectrum well, however with the current channel arrangement, there needs to be some clarification on just how these modes can be used. The current channels are specified by a center frequency and ARRL has provided "dial frequencies" for use in the 60 meter band that center up the SSB emissions on the channels. Both CW and PSK do not need the full 2.6 kHz or so bandwidth that a SSB signal occupies on the channels today. It would be terribly inefficient to allow just one CW or PSK signal on each channel. Could we allow multiple CW and PSK signals on one channel as long as the stayed within the 2.6 khz passband? This would make for more efficient use of the channels.
Overall I think this is a good proposal, the FCC just needs to nix PACTOR-III and put some common sense rules or guidelines around CW and PSK operation. The NPRM is open for comment 30 days after publication in the Federal Register.
40 Meters Tonight: A Box of Chocolates
I'm on 40 meters doing some casual search and pounce this evening. Between the ARI DX Contest, the New England QSO Party, the Indiana QSO Party, and the 7th Call Area QSO Party, it's rather busy and you have to listen real close to be sure who's operating what contest. There seems to be some RTTY thing going on as well, but that goes without saying....
Not To Toot My Own Horn…
....but I placed first for the third year in a row competing in the QRP division in the Pennsylvania QSO Party. It's the only contest I get excited about these days and it has reasonable hours that let you get some sleep between Saturday and Sunday operating. And it helps that I actually live in Pennsylvania.... :-)
Darnnit!
Lost another 2N2222 in the rig. Looks like I have to ride to Radio Shack this weekend for another five pack of them...
Over-The-Air QSLing
I love the KISS approach VA7VV has created, where you can just go to his site and print out a QSL card. I intend to take a similar approach soon, though not as "self-serve" as VA7VV has done, but migrating to a PDF format where I'll just email a QSL card to anyone who requests one.
But I was thinking the other day, why not just do over-the-air QSLing? With public/private key encryption it's easy to take some text or data and create a key that can be used to authenticate the information back to the originator. There could be a program or website to generate keys on the fly. I'm wondering if a key could be shaved down to maybe 10 alphanumeric characters that could be exchanged over the air like: "Here ya go Bob, here's yer QSL key: Gulf Delta Charlie One Foxtrot Zed Five Nine Yankee Three.... Good DX and 73!" You record that in your log and if someone wants to authenticate it back to the station, they can grab his public key off of the 'zed or at ARRL and plug it into the program or a website. I'm not sure how many bits the encryption would have to be decreased to to make the QSL key exchanged over the air short enough or make the encryption a reasonable enough level to prevent most forgeries.
Ah....maybe it's more trouble than it's worth and I should stick with emailing QSLs...
QRP Record Shattered
A QRP record was shattered this week when Bob Goblosovits, W9RJX, after making a contact on 40 meters with a homebrew QRP rig in a tunafish can using 1 watt into a dipole, exclaimed on the QRP-L reflector "QRP really works!". This was the 239th time Goblosovits made the claim on a reflector, beating out Algernon Smith, WB2ACH, who previously held the record at 238 reflector messages in his ham career. Smith unfortunately passed away last year after succumbing to a heart attack at his workbench while soldering a surface mount kit rig.
It's expected that Goblosovits will be nominated and inducted into the QRP Hall of Fame this year at Dayton.
It's expected that Goblosovits will be nominated and inducted into the QRP Hall of Fame this year at Dayton.
