60 Meter E-Mails
From ARRL Hqs
NEWINGTON, CT, Apr 3, 2007 -- The ARRL is expressing concern that
negative consequences could result from chasing DX on 60 meters. Some
DXpeditions have announced plans to operate on Amateur Radio's only
channelized band, where amateur operations hold secondary status to
fixed service operations, including some US government stations. ARRL
CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, says that while it's legal for DXpeditions to
operate on the 5-MHz band provided the licensing administration
extends privileges there, DX pileups on 60 meters pose the potential
for real and unique problems.
"US amateurs are limited to five channels on 60 meters, USB only,
maximum effective radiated power (ERP) 50 W, audio bandwidth not
exceeding 2.8 kHz, and not all of the channels are useable because of
ongoing fixed service operation," Sumner points out. "It is absolutely
imperative that any amateur transmitting on a 60 meter channel be
prepared to relinquish the channel immediately upon being requested to
do so."
Among other things, Sumner says, this means constantly monitoring the
transmitting channel, thus ruling out any split-frequency operation
while using a single-channel receiver.
The impending Swains Island N8S DXpedition has announced plans on its
Web site to operate SSB on the 60-meter frequency of 5.4035 MHz,
although that band was not among those on an updated frequency list
released this week. While Sumner said he wasn't singling out the N8S
operation, working into the South Pacific on 5 MHz running just 50 W
ERP on phone would be a challenge under the best of circumstances.
"Amateurs must resist the temptation to exceed the radiated power
limit," Sumner stressed.
He also warned amateurs in countries that do not authorize amateur
operation on 60 meters to resist the temptation to make contacts on
the band. Radio amateurs transmitting on a 5 MHz frequency without
authorization, Sumner asserts, not only are breaking the law but are
putting their continued participation in the ARRL DXCC program in
jeopardy.
"Anyone who submits a 5 MHz confirmation for DXCC credit may be asked
to provide evidence that their operation on that frequency was
authorized," he said.
Even countries that authorize operation on 60 meters impose the
express condition Amateur Radio stations not cause harmful
interference to fixed and mobile service stations.
"Should such interference occur and not be immediately corrected, it
will place in jeopardy our existing limited privileges, our chances of
increasing those privileges on a domestic basis, and any chance we
might have of ever obtaining an international allocation," Sumner
emphasized.
Last fall, the ARRL asked the FCC to expand 60 meter operating
privileges and substitute a new channel for one that's often occupied
by a federal government user. The League filed a Petition for Rule
Making (PRM) October 10. The petition said amateurs have proven,
through interference-free operation on the five channels, that
compatible sharing of the channels is possible.
The League wants the FCC to authorize radio amateurs of General and
higher class to run 100 W ERP and to allow Morse code and data
communication. It also asks the Commission to replace the 5368.0 kHz
center-frequency channel with 5358.5 kHz, so amateurs can avoid
federal government digital traffic on the current channel.
If the FCC goes along with the ARRL's suggested changes, operation on
60 meters would remain on a secondary basis, and radio amateurs would
still have to avoid interfering with incumbent federal government and
other services.
In an unrelated move, the ARRL has supported efforts to have World
Radiocommunication Conference 2007 (WRC-07) establish a worldwide
secondary amateur allocation of 5.260 to 5.410 MHz. A participating
national administration must formally propose the change for it to be
considered this fall at WRC-07.
From Charles, 9G5CL
Herman/Joe
Charles now at the keyboard. Sorry I didn't hook up with any of you guys on 60 mtrs. The power grid was quite unreliable and had rotating outages. Ours often occurred just as I was going to operate. While we consider Africa underdeveloped, it is nonetheless populous. Accra is a city of 3 million people, 70% of which have cell phones and 40% of whom have TV sets (see below) The National TV network claims it is regularly viewed in 10 million homes (population of the country is 30 million). There is some extreme civil unrest in the North with tribal conflicts according to one of my associates who works in Lara.
The equipment was IC-706 MKIIG and the antenna a tuned dipole on the roof. I also tried a budipole loaned to me from Andy, WD4KDN. The elevation was about 20 mtrs above ground and the feedline was RG8X, about 30 feet so that was not an issue. I ran the full 100 Watts. I did not have the actual permission from the ministry to operate on these frequencies although I addressed the desire with Mr. Coodjoe - he stated that "everything takes time in Africa" but I believe he was encouraging me to go ahead with a nod and a wink. In fact he did not have my actual license only a letter saying my fee had been paid so that I basically was OK to use standard bands from that point onward. They do not even recognize WARC bands such as 30 mtrs as yet so 60 mtrs was quite a jump for them. The whole licensing process was quite laborious but I plan to post a procedure to ARRL. The info up there is completely out of date. Several of the crucial people mentioned on the website have expired, gone blind, etc. The Ghanaian club is all but gone now too. There are hardly any active amateurs left in the country except for a few missionaries.
Let me describe my findings as I listened diligently - very few stations audible, most on 5403.5 and 5371.5 I heard a K4MM and I thought I had worked G4TRA as he was calling but there was nothing confirmed. These were right at the local noise. No other competing signals were heard there from RTTY, digital etc. I was on at local twilight for about 30 -60 mins and then again at twilight for the East Coast USA. There were evidently no local governmental services anywhere around these frequencies though I am told the UN is active in Cote D'voire (where I also was but did not transmit) in these bands. The biggest challenge to get through was the number of stations that seemed to be all of equivalent strength (zero S units) and constantly chatting. If many would observe a rule to have silence for one minute out of 5 on channel 5 that would really help DX stations to get a word in edgewise. I think the paths to Europe and US were roughly equivalent and there was either no sound at all (no propagation) or two to three stations simultaneously transmitting down in the mud. I could hear stations calling me but somewhere else a casual QSO was going on the same freq. It was rather difficult.
Two pieces of news will interest the group. First, I hope to be returning to Ghana in a better situation with backup power and an improved antenna perhaps in the winter of '08 during the African Cup Soccer games. Second, my good friend Sam Watkins (TU5DS I think is his call - he has been inactive) has pledged to get on HF again if I can find him a radio - and since he was along on this trip, he observed me attempting to make contact on 60m. He wants to try it from Ivory Coast. He has some inroads with the ministry of telecommunication in Abidjan so may be able to get authorization.
HF conditions overall were terrible. I barely made it into the US a time or two on 20 mtrs before the band shut down at night. It was both too short and high noise level there below the equator (tropical conditions with static crashes and a fine sizzle). I did make 2 way contact with Helen here at the home station (14 MHZ) at a prearranged time (about 5 PM here) when she had a relative present as control op who was a general class (Helen is a no code Tech - KF4RGH). I had no problems working all around Africa on 20 during the midday but even then signals were quite below what I am used to over there.
I tried both 160 and 75. Could not hear a single station but antenna was a compromise. 15 was usable for an hour or so on one day. MUF must never have gotten out of the basement. I did not have any regular email contact. You have to go to an internet cafe and wait in line.
I still work 60 from home here from time to time so will continue to get more experience with the propagation. My thanks to you and Joe for listening. I will copy Joe here and see if either of these calls might have been on at the time I was operating (each evening Friday through Monday). I can check my logs to see what freq and time.
My dad is stable in the hospital. Had another heart attack. Thanks to you both for your expression of concern. Let me tell you it is good to be back in the US! I have had enough rice and snail for a while
Check out this link - we were interviewed on national TV as well as BBC for the sports activity. I also did work on Liberian Refugee camps while there, seeing as many as 150 patients a day.
http://www.tv3.com.gh/news/news_details.asp?newsid=3207
73's
Charles
WD4KZK
9G5CL
TU2CL
From Phil, M0VEY
Hi Joe,
Thanks for your e-mail. The newsletter is a great idea & your right, it's good to know who's who on 60m. I have been active on 60m since 1st Feb 2007. My first qso with USA on 60m was on 21/02.07 with W4DR followed by K1RVB & a real surprise, ZD8WX. The next evening I worked NP4A, K4AVC & K9HMB. Some of these guys I have now worked more than once. WAS is a challenge for me. I have 26 states confirmed (multi band) & is something I am enjoying trying to do.
I am certainly ok for QSL, either direct or via the bureau. My normal station is a Kenwood TS870 with a dedicated 60m dipole at 40'. I also have a Ranger 811H amp to boost power to the 200w we are allowed to use here. Most of the time the amp is on standby as 100w is usually more than adequate. Last night I was giving my 7 year old TS50 a run out for the first time on 60m. It seemed to work well, although the rx is better on the 870.
Daytime in the UK on 60m I am listening out for SOTA stations & chasing points. I have included a link to SOTA to explain what that is about, in case you don't know. I have also included a link to my home page, which can also be found on QRZ.com. Please feel free to post any of this in the newsletter. I do listen fairly regular on 60m between 2200gmt & 0100gmt.
Regards,
Phil. M0VEY Sigglesthorne East Yorkshire.
http://hometown.aol.com/m0vey/myhomepage/index.html
http://www.sota.org.uk/
From Cris, GM4FAM
Hi Tom
Great to hear Colin MU0FAL is now QRV on the band - I have known him for years and he is a good guy (QSLs are reliable too).
I have been in contact with Darren G0TSM about his forthcoming activity from C5 commencing 20 March thru 27 March. Seems I have stirred up some 60m interest with him - he has an open licence and will be based close to the Atlantic Ocean. I have forwarded to him the 60m website and frequency info; needless to say I have encouraged him to be QRV - if he appears, this one should be a cinch for you!
I had a QSO with EA8/DL3KVR yesterday and they have NO permission for 60m - sri!
Also contacted Dave W5CW about his forthcoming VP5 operation - his radio will not TX on 5 MHz (but he sed he will bear in mind future operations from there).
Some voice beacon info:-
The nice sounding lady on 5.450 is at RAF Volmet in NW London.
There is also a Volmet station at Shannon Airport in EI on 5.505.
73 de CRIS
GM4FAM
From Keisuke, V73KN
Dear Joe,
Permission for 60m was not granted at this time
because the staffs in Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunicaton
are not familliar with Amateur radio service and no one can make decision
now.
It needs time and continuous effort to gain understanding.
Keisuke Nagase V73KN
From Rick, NE8Z, HC1MD
hi joe...i was not in the contest...just working on
family issues for this first week.
No luck on
60m...we called the govt offices and operation on that
band is strictly prohibited at this time.
It will
take a movement from a radio club here to make it
happen. cu on the other bands...maybe even tonight.
73 Rick HC1MD
From Steve, GW7AAV
Hi Tom,
Nice to see my callsign on your site. I am usually around between 22:00 and 00:00 UTC and back on from about 07:00, so if anyone would like to arrange a sked or give me a call on 5.4035mHz I would be very happy to work them.
I would love to work all states on 5mHz and I only have 45 to go, HI! I have the following so far CT, IL, NC, NJ, OH so any others would be most welcome, but I would happy to work any station looking for GW on the band. My details and email are correct in QRZ if needed.
Regards Steve GW7AAV
From Bill, W4WX, ZD8WX
Lots of BBC local qrm. I had 47 QSO's on 60 meters. Wish it could have been better.
We had over 7500 q's all together.
Maybe next time.
73 Bill
From Alex, PJ7/PY1WAS:
Dear Joe,
I have just arrived this Saturday morning in Sao Paulo and although 208 QSOs (28 on 60 meters) have been achieved in 7 hours of transmission, my PY colleagues are very happy, because there was a lot of time that PY operators did not go in dx-peditions.
I am already thinking about going to PY0-T (Trindade Island), OA (Peru) or any of the Guianas in South America... and I let you know. It would be better to have another colleague together, so that we might alternate and get more hours in the air... But, anyway, I will let you know.
By the way, please, forward the information that my data posted in QRZ.COM are out-of-date and nobody should sent letter to that address. I am trying to update it, but I do not find a way to do it in the site.
My present address is:
Alexandre Dalmasso (ALEX) - PY1WAS and PY2WAS
Rua Dr. James Ferraz Alvim, 271, apt. 152, Morumbi,
05641-021 - Sao Paulo - SP
Brazil
Thank you for alll support, Joe.
Best 73 Alex PY1WAS
From Gary, W5ZL, V31ZL
Hi Joe,
Sorry it’s taken me a little while to get back to you. My schedule was (and is) nuts since our return Monday.
Our 60 meter operation was a lot of fun, thanks to you. Had you not contacted me we wouldn’t have even thought of trying. We did pretty minimal pre-contest operating other than getting antennas and power issues sorted out, as is reflected in the number of 60 meter QSOs we made, but at least we got some in. I logged a total of 32 Q’s on 60. John V31TP (WC0W) made quite a few contacts as well, but I don’t have his numbers. If you’re interested in seeing the place we operated from, check out www.cahalpech.com. John has a lot of family in Belize and his cousin owns the Cahal Pech Village Resort, which makes it ham friendly by definition. Anything we wanted to do was just fine with Cousin Daniel!
John had never tried to do a multi- station contest from down there, and as you can appreciate, a two-transmitter high power portable operation represents a significantly more complex undertaking so we had our hands full getting everything debugged. The little bit of time we got to play on 60 was great with quite active pileups. I think we were hearing better than we were being heard. We were using an 80 meter dipole and played a little with using a 400’ beverage to see if that would improve the hearing part. We had forgotten to take a termination resistor with us, so the beverage was unterminated until the day of the contest when we found a very primitive TV repair shop in town that was able to help us. Regardless, the stateside signals were quite readable for the most part. Let me know if you have a broadband internet connection and I’ll ship you a few photos.
As to what we might have done differently, I’d clearly put up a dipole cut to 60 meters. I’m sure that would have worked a lot better than the 80 meter dipole. Aside from that, just more time. BTW, we took everything down Monday morning after the contest and quit playing radios for the rest of the trip. Tuesday we went into Guatemala to explore the incredible Tikal Mayan ruins. Then on Wednesday we left the mountains of Western Belize headed to the beach, spending four days on Caye Caulker off the Belize coast. We absolutely LOVED that place, and seriously talked about trying to buy something on the island to set up a getaway/ham location. No paved roads, no cars. Just bicycles and a few electric golf carts. Can’t get any more laid back than Caye Caulker.
We did reasonably well in the ARRL DX CW contest with over 7,000 Q’s and 325 mults, for a total score of nearly 7 million points. That puts us no better than third in the world in the M/2 category. We got aced out by HP1XX and PJ2T who, with locations further from the States, were able to get some pretty decent 10 meter numbers (we were not) and that was the difference.
Will you be going to Dayton this year? I’ve been the last three, and will likely make it this year. Maybe we can hook up there.
73, Gary W5ZL/V31ZL
P.S.: I may do the 60 meter transmit mod on my Pro II tonight and check out the band from here. Do you know folks using the Pro II on 60, and if so, does it work reasonably well?