HI folks,

As many of you know I'm heavily into the public service aspects of our
hobby.  Year after year we have the same brouhaha with contesters and
non-contesters.  Read this op-ed piece I submitted to QST and if you
agree with the proposal and are a league member voice your opinion to
your director.

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                  ITS TIME FOR A TRUE DIALOGUE

Contesters and public service operators need to start doing more
than pointing fingers and saying the same old things wehn the
subject of contesting comes up in relation to contests usurping
entire bands.    STatements such as:  "WEll you have the warc
bands" don't really cut it.  THirty meters is quite limited in
spectrum and cw/digital only.  seventeen meters doesn't always
afford us the propagation that the 20 and 40 meter bands do.

I've been a longtime swl, (over 20 years) and a public service
communicator for the last three years or so.  I recall back in the
'70's when such contests as the phone sweepstakes had subbands set
aside for contesting and other part of the band for regular
activities.  there was still some grousing among ragcheweres and
other users of the bands then, but not nearly at the level we hear
today.

I've been a region net manager, a regular liaison to the nts area
nets and a former section traffic manager.  I'm also an active
station on the Maritime MObile SErvice net on 14.300 megahertz.  I
even enjoy some contesting, i participated last year in the
November phone sweepstakes, didn't turn in a log as I had to  go to
work unexpectedly that weekend but plan to really devote some time
to it this year.  I also participate in Field day, which is a bit
more than a contest in my estimation, but don't tell me that I see
no value in contesting or that I'm a rabid anti-contester.  SUch
statements are untrue and would be skirting the issues I raise
here.

Every year during the fall contest season tempers grow short and
the usual non-dialogue takes place between contesting community
leadership and public service and humanitarian aide communicators
regarding this topic.  THe tempers grow short both among the folks
trying to carry out their public service duties and contesters.
COmments such as "another damn net, to hell with 'em I ain't
moving."  THis is after the net's been occupying a frequency and a
contest station was asked politely to please qsy.  Public service
communicators' tempers grow short as well, making an already bad
situation even worse.

I have a modest proposal which should cause everybody to give a
little and yet be able to enjoy their flavor of amateur radio on a
contest weekend.  IT goes like this:

Reserve the area between 14.297 and the top of the 20 meter band
for noncontest operation during contests.  tHis gives public
service nets etc. the top usable 50 khz on 20 meters.  Note I say
that it gives us the top 50 khz even though effectively it's 53.
Remember your rules and regs?  A single sideband signal isn't
supposed to occupy more than 3 khz of bandwidth.  ON 20 meters we
use upper sideband, which means that you really shouldn't transmit
with a frequency center higher than 14.347 unless you want to court
a citation from the FCC or an OO notice.  This also gives us a
window of three kilohertz below the maritime mobile service network
on 14.300 mhz.  Almost everybody who reads QST has heard  about
some rescue or assistance rendered by the Maritime Mobile SErvice
net over the years, and it should be understandable why we'd
appreciate the room during a contest weekend.

ON forty meters I propose allowing us the top 50 kilohertz as well.
SOme nets might have to move their operations in this band during
a contest weekend, but having a plan to move within a band which
allows usually reliable communications is preferable to not being
able to conduct your net activities at all due to qrm or using an
unsuitable frequency.  FOr the most part however giving noncontest
operations the upper 50 khz of 40 meters would be a reasonable
compromise.

for 75 meters I would propose the top 100 khz be set aside for
noncontest operations.  This band is our busiest band during the
nighttime hours with many section traffic nets and other public
service nets during the night hours here in NOrth America.  Even
general class operators who wish to participate in the contest
should have ample room on the 75 meter band to pursue their
interest.

That's my proposal, so let's hear something else from the
contesting community other than the usual statement that we have a
couple of rather limited bands for activities other than
contesting.  Many of us are hoping to establish some meaningful
dialogue with an eye toward solving this knotty problem.



Richard Webb

Electric Spider Productions

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

--- Benjamin Franklin November 1755