The AM Forum

More Excitement! Band Plans are always fun discussions.

From the ARRL web site, dated 2/7/13:
The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Region 2 conference will be held later this year in Mexico... One of the topics on the conference agenda will be the Region 2 HF band plan. This band plan is “harmonized” with -- spectrum management-speak for “very similar to” -- the IARU Region 1 and Region 3 band plans...

Radio amateurs in the US who would like to submit input, see the additional details: http://www.arrl.org/news/iaru-region-2-seeks-input-on-hf-band-plan

I submitted a suggestion on r.r.a.m., in response to the IARU requet. Just between you and me, it has sort of backfired.

I suggest hams be accorded squatter's
rights on any band with less than 10% usage in
any thirty day period.

I say: if hams find a stretch of RF Real Estate that's
lying idle, we get to use it until and unless the
assigned users make their presence known.

My 2¢.


Now, like I said, just between you and me, I wasn't exactly being serious. It wasn't exactly a joke, you understand, but it wasn't exactly serious, know what I mean? However, there are now three replies on r.r.a.m., and probably more coming, and they're all written like nobody is laughing, so I now have to do a little - ah, let's see how to put this - retrospective sensitivity training.

It was more like I was thinking of the drift-net fishermen who hold their conference calls on the low end of 80, or the 27.500+ "Outbanders", or maybe the quick little conversations that happen around 2.5 MHz between "Jeb" and "Rick" where they casually mention that their friend "Jorge" called last Tuesday and the Coast Guard was behind him, putting a boat over.

I want to join those conversations!


Bill, W1AC, with apologies to K2ASP