"Joe Collins" wrote in message
...
Now that Bruce Parens and NCI have won the CW wars, what will happen
to the exclusive CW allocations if a CW requirement is dropped?
Certainly there can be no argument for keeping the current band
structure in place, and phone operations probably ought to be spread
out into what was once exclusively reserved for CW operators. Not
only would this alleviate the congestion in the phone bands, but it
would finally and officially place CW into perspective: Just another
optional mode of operation without any exclusive rights to any
frequency.

Remember it is not only CW that uses these sections of the bands but also
the other digital modes. The large number of hams in the US combined with
the limited amount of HF spectrum allotted to hams means some time of
regulation may continue to be necessary here. While a voluntary band plan
might work, I wouldn't count on it. I've read postings from Europeans where
they have problems because people will not follow the band plans especially
during their contests. They have a lot fewer hams than we do.

Given the activity on the air right now and the last several weeks, the
congestion has been in the CW/digital subbands not the phone bands.
Conditions on phone have been poor and there has, in general been little
activity, other than a pileup or two on a DX station. Expanding the phone
bands won't clear up those types of activities.

So since there isn't any real congestion in the phone bands right now, there
is no need to expand them at the expense of all the digital modes (PSK31,
RTTY, Amtor, Packet, a myriad of lesser known modes, and also CW).

Dee D. Flint, N8UZE