On 4/09/2017 12:10 PM, Steve L wrote:
Well we just heard a few days ago that some foreign hams don't have a bandwidth restriction, other than it fits in the band. I haven't heard of any ill effects from over there, but maybe someone from abroad can chime in.
In Australia, Advanced licence class holders have no bandwidth limits other than the width of the amateur bands themselves on any band from 430 MHz and up. Yes, we could use the full 70cm band if we wanted to. Particularly useful for spread spectrum, ATV and high speed data. In reality, I probably wouldn't use such bandwidths here below 1240 MHz, because there is already an ATV repeater using the top 7 MHz of 70cm, and there's no other appropriate places in the band for such bandwidths (other than spread spectrum).
I can see it being a concern on HF, where the spectrum is more limited, but I am pretty much with Brain for above 50 MHz. Further more is takes a least a dozen years to make any headway with the FCC, so I highly recommend futuristic thinking when writing comments.
Even on HF, I believe hams are better positioned to manage the bands than the authorities. US HF restrictions cause a number of issues around the world, from limiting technical innovation, to making some contacts impossible, without resorting to odd frequency splits. It's also had an impact on our authorities (e.g. the Australian "80m DX window" - 24 kHz of extra spectrum required to enable phone contacts with countries like the US).
Bruce Perens recommended basically do away with the bandwidth limits, and let gentlemans agreements take rule. I think that seems logical. Especially when the alternative is a 10-15 year re-revising the rule, piece meal approach game like we have been playing, that really just impedes innovation. But no one has to agree with me. You just have to file comments to make me happy :-)
I happen to agree with Bruce on this one. To me, part and parcel of ham experimentation is larning to live together. We might even learn something that helps the authorities manage other parts of the spectrum. Not all innovations have to be technical.
Further more, I see like less that 5% of the ham population being actually capable of sending a 2 MHz wide signal, so the point is pretty much moot (Everyone else has a Beofeng HT.)
Yes, at this point in time, it's pretty much self limiting. :)