To me, the issue comes down to contained or not contained when it comes to signals on the bands. We're already contained by the limits of the band itself so there's effectively a finite space for everyone and if FT8 or RTTY or XYZ wanted to and was allowed to be everywhere, the QRM would be terrible.
As I see it, contained is better than un-contained in that the smaller dedicated area for digital/RTTY leaves a much greater area devoid of it. FWIW, during the CW contest I had the filter down to 50Hz, heard DX above me and realized I was also hearing FT8 & I'd crossed into that "sub-band" I didn't respond to their CQ because to me, that would be intentionally QRMing someone not in the contest. O'course in the contests we don't want to QRM another contester either but we want to be heard first, so it can be a pig Pile, but that's part of the game. 73, Gary KA1J > http://www.iaru-r1.org/index.php/downloads/func-startdown/718/ > > IARU Region 1 160m Band plan: > 1810 - 1838 200 CW,1836 kHz - QRP Centre of Activity > 1838 - 1840 500 Narrow band modes > 1840 - 1843 2700 All modes - digimodes, (*) > 1843 - 2000 2700 All modes, (*) > > There's no exclusive frequency for FT8 or any other K1JT mode. > Therefore using CW on any frequency is absolutely legal. > > -- > 73, Victor Goncharsky US5WE/K1WE (UW5W in VHF contests, ex UB5WE), > P.E. UARL Technical and VHF Committies DXCC Honor Roll #1 (Mixed, > Phone), 9BDXCC, 8BWAS DXCC card checker (160 meters). > _________________ Topband Reflector Archives - > http://www.contesting.com/_topband _________________ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband