40m Transatlantic AM?

[k4kyv]

I listened this morning between 0700-0900 GMT on 7125-7180.  Only a couple of broadcast signals in that segment.  Several Italians and Spanish  slopbuckets were calling CQDX, strapping in here at S9+40 on voice peaks.  Transatlantic AM would have been a breeze.

WATSA Euro-AM'ers?  Sunrise to 9-10 AM Saturday and Sunday mornings should be a convenient time to get on the air and work a few nocturnal emitters on AM from N. America.

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Not sure about 40m Don, but Gary and I had a nice chat with Dave G3UUR at NEARFest which shed some light on the 80m side of things. Dave said that 3705 is the Dutch AM calling frequency, with other groups down lower in the 3600 area. He seemed to indicate some regular activity on those frequencies, but didn't mention 40. I'd be curious to see what some listening way down the band turns up.

Maybe Dave will chime in and offer some thoughts on the 40m side.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Should be a snap, considering we can work the Euros on 80 meters. I've worked UK, France, Malta, Spain and Belgium on 3705, as well as the Netherlands. I wish some more of the UK stations would tune up there.

[k4kyv]

I have heard UK, Italy and Spain above 7100.  Not sure how many other countries can legally operate there now, since the broadcasters aren't due to vacate the frequencies until sometime in March.  It is my understanding that the amateurs operating there now are able to transmit only on a non-interference basis.

I wonder how many of the broadcasters will actually move, and  how many will simply ignore the change and stay put.  And bureaucratic delays may keep some countries off this segment for months after the broadcasters are supposed to vacate.

I recall that in the US, after LORAN vacated 160 per WARC-79, it was months, maybe ever a year, before the FCC budged to change the rules to allow amateurs access to all the frequencies, and this happened only after several amateur groups including ARRL submitted rulemaking petitions to the FCC to lift the restrictions.  After 1800-1900 was opened for full amateur use without power restrictions,  there still was a further delay for 1900-2000, waiting for some Canadian LORAN stations, I believe, to be phased out.  I never understood why, as soon as LORAN was removed, full amateur privileges weren't granted immediately by default, automatically.