> Danny Douglas N7DC wrote: > > I was trying to do some RTTY QSOs last night, > ... > some South American QRM on SSB came up right on top of me. > Tuning around I found at least a dozen Spanish QSOs > between 7.050 and 7.01. > ... Now, I know the rest of the world HAS to use that portion > for SSB, but Region 2 does NOT. They go there for a couple of > reasons: Less QRM from stateside stations above 7.1, and to > keep stateside stations from calling them.
Hi Danny, You are correct that 7000kHz-7300kHz is allocated to hams in ITU Region 2 area, including North/South America... but... I have operated 7MHz SSB extensively in South America over many years, so I must point out that you are incorrect regarding each country's ham band for 7MHz. The 40 meter ham band in many countries of South America and Central America is only 7000kHz to 7100kHz. That is the entire ham band. Hams there cannot use 7100kHz-7300kHz, and even if they could, it would be extremely difficult for them. Here is the reason... In South America, 5MHz to 10MHz is filled with non-amateur SSB stations using converted ham or marine transceivers. Some of the non-amateur HF SSB stations are licensed, most are not! The hams of each country on 40 meters run daily SSB nets in the 7050kHz-7100kHz part of the band. The hams unite as a group on net frequencies, they must band together to protect a frequency every day from the "pirates", and it is not easy. The most popular "pirate" frequency is 7000kHz USB and LSB voice. It is like CB Channel 19 on steroids. On a side note, last year, when IARU in Europe proposed 7000kHz-7003kHz as an international amateur radio emergency frequency, I had to laugh! There is no way this frequency would be usable for ham operation in South America! For many years, especially in the jungle and remote mountain areas of South America, non-amateur HF SSB has been one of the main methods used for all types of family and business communications between villages, ranchos, and outposts. The lack of telephones or the high cost of telephone precluded most common people from using it. Mobile phone has somewhat changed this, but not much. The governments of South America mostly do not stop the HF SSB "pirates", because their country would come to a grinding halt if they put these stations off the air. Each village has a little store front, with a radio operator running a 100W SSB transceiver on a car battery with a broadband folded dipole. Each village monitors a specific HF SSB frequency. To call a another village, you dial their frequency on the VFO and say the village name. They send a runner out to bring the person back to the radio. They charge a small "message unit" of money to the person. Some stations have phone patches. I have personally used this vast loosely-organized network, and I must say, hams could probably learn something from it! There is more daily Emergency Communications traffic and medical traffic on the "pirate" HF SSB stations in South America than I have ever heard on ham radio. Bonnie KQ6XA OA4/KQ6XA, OA8/KQ6XA, OA9/KQ6XA
