On the international level, at this point in time, I would strongly suggest that 7000 ~ 7070 kHz be considered the "CW" subband, 7070 ~ 7100 the "digital" subband, and 7100 & up the "phone" subband, with appropriate shifts in nets and schedules and calling frequencies and so forth.
Domestically (US only), I'd suggest retaining 7000 - 7025 as the Extra Only CW band (no change there, of course), and move the Extra/Advanced Only SSB band to 7100 - 7150 (the current "Novice" band). That is assuming that the US amateur population still desires 40 meter sub-bands based on license class, which is a separate argument. Obviously, with the international band doubling in size in 2009, the need for US-licensed stations outside the 48 contiguous states to have/need phone privileges below 7100 klHz goes away, but some adjustment of the 7100-7200 phone band might be needed. We have plenty of time to work on that! Oh, I'd also move current Novice/Tech+ CW operations on 40 to the 7025-7070 kHz band. Should they also get digital privileges 7070-7100? I could make an argument for it, and I could make an argument against it. Again, something we have plenty of time to hash out. And I don't know about anyone else, but oh, am I looking forward to losing those screwy 100-200 kHz splits on 40! While it does make contesting & phone DX'ing on 40 a test for the skillful, it is nevertheless a major pain in the tuchus! 73, ron wn3vaw AJ: "Did you ever hear of Evel Kneival?" Lev: "I never saw Star Wars" -- Armageddon ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Warren" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Fred Laun K3ZO" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, July 04, 2003 5:10 PM Subject: [DX-CHAT] 40M Expansion I'll bet I'm not the only person thinking about how best to use the 40M changes that will occur six years from now. Here's a suggestion to get the ball rolling - but no doubt there are angles I haven't thought of. 40M is a wonderful DX band, with outstanding propagation matched only by 20M, and not even by that band at the bottom of the sunspot cycle. But SSB DXers and contesters have always been hamstrung by the FCC keeping USA Lower 48 above 7150, and ITU keeping Region 1 below 7100. So we have to work split, irritating all the U.S.local ragchewers - especially during contests. (My XYL is tired of answering ill-tempered L/L calls). The least efficiently used portion of the Region 2 amateur band is 7100-7150, largely because of the high BC occupancy. It's also way under-utilized by Novice and Tech-Plus licensees, and those folks can now easily upgrade to 5wpm General and use the 7025+ segment. In preparation for 2009, I suggest the ARRL petitions the FCC to assign 7100-7150 to the Stateside end of intercontinental SSB QSOs. Not much would happen initially due to the BC QRM, but as that slowly goes away, and all those Novices and Tech-Plus of past years graduate to General, we could move down from among the ragchewers above 7150 and have some clearer space, even though still operating split. But in 2009 the rest of the world gets spectrum rights up to 7200, and at last we would have a true worldwide SSB DX window, 7100-7150, with no more split, and negligible QRM from other modes and local operations! If you don't like that, how would you use the 2009 changes to arrange a 40M SSB DX/contest window? John, NT5C. Subscribe/unsubscribe, feedback, FAQ, problems http://njdxa.org/dx-chat To post a message, DX related items only, [EMAIL PROTECTED] This is the DX-CHAT reflector sponsored by the NJDXA http://njdxa.org Subscribe/unsubscribe, feedback, FAQ, problems http://njdxa.org/dx-chat To post a message, DX related items only, [EMAIL PROTECTED] This is the DX-CHAT reflector sponsored by the NJDXA http://njdxa.org