40 Meters and non-ITU Region 2 Regulations
What can I say? I put my main HF rig back on the table after my (3 weeks ago) trip to Hocking Hills and tuned around the CW portion of 40 and was swamped with LSB signals from some contest.
Now, I know we don't have voice privileges on this portion of 40m (meaning ITU Region 2). I know the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has different regulations for different regions, and from what I have seen some of the regulations are quite strict and limiting.
However, whoever is allowed by the ITU to run sideband, and BIG sideband (big amps = power), on our CW portion of 40m is causing some big time QRM over here.
You have to take in to account that the HF frequencies we use GO ALL OVER THE WORLD. Therefore, at no point in time is everywhere on this planet immune to big signals emanating from one particular country, let alone an entire ITU region.
I think this is one of those cases where it is way too complicated to fix. However, it would be REALLY nice if the ITU could create some uniform regulations that keep everyone in the world on the same page. The electromagnetic spectrum (and shortwave portion specifically, in this case) is a precious resource that can not be used up (in the way that oil is), yet it is limited in that it can carry only so many signals in select portions (the bands that we use = different bands do different things). By having the bands we use (select portions of the shortwave electromagnetic spectrum) allocated to different modes in different areas problems arise in QRM - such as my obvious experience this evening on 40 meters.
If the bands could be held to the condition that different band segments are for specific modes, such as the higher portion being voice and the lower portion being CW/digital (with digital falling at or near very specific frequencies because of the very narrow band nature of the signals), I think we would all be better off.
Then this all gets back to the bands being allocated differently in other ITU regions and the complexity with other licensed users. If only mass global communication, like the Internet, was implemented in the early 1900's... I think we would have been able to allocate the electromagnetic spectrum better. Then it would have been possible to keep certain groups of users in certain areas. Instead, we have all kinds of users that popped up in different areas and now that they are well established it throws a wrench in the gears for trying to group things together. I know there are a zillion more reasons today why things are the way they are, but if you go way back in time to when radio was new it was regulated differently in different parts of the world - and that difference has carried through to the 21st century.
Now, I know we don't have voice privileges on this portion of 40m (meaning ITU Region 2). I know the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has different regulations for different regions, and from what I have seen some of the regulations are quite strict and limiting.
However, whoever is allowed by the ITU to run sideband, and BIG sideband (big amps = power), on our CW portion of 40m is causing some big time QRM over here.
You have to take in to account that the HF frequencies we use GO ALL OVER THE WORLD. Therefore, at no point in time is everywhere on this planet immune to big signals emanating from one particular country, let alone an entire ITU region.
I think this is one of those cases where it is way too complicated to fix. However, it would be REALLY nice if the ITU could create some uniform regulations that keep everyone in the world on the same page. The electromagnetic spectrum (and shortwave portion specifically, in this case) is a precious resource that can not be used up (in the way that oil is), yet it is limited in that it can carry only so many signals in select portions (the bands that we use = different bands do different things). By having the bands we use (select portions of the shortwave electromagnetic spectrum) allocated to different modes in different areas problems arise in QRM - such as my obvious experience this evening on 40 meters.
If the bands could be held to the condition that different band segments are for specific modes, such as the higher portion being voice and the lower portion being CW/digital (with digital falling at or near very specific frequencies because of the very narrow band nature of the signals), I think we would all be better off.
Then this all gets back to the bands being allocated differently in other ITU regions and the complexity with other licensed users. If only mass global communication, like the Internet, was implemented in the early 1900's... I think we would have been able to allocate the electromagnetic spectrum better. Then it would have been possible to keep certain groups of users in certain areas. Instead, we have all kinds of users that popped up in different areas and now that they are well established it throws a wrench in the gears for trying to group things together. I know there are a zillion more reasons today why things are the way they are, but if you go way back in time to when radio was new it was regulated differently in different parts of the world - and that difference has carried through to the 21st century.
posted by Steve at
10:12 PM
2 Comments
