2m amateur radio band endangered?
f4fxl.org
f4fxl.org
The 2m band is the most prolific uhf/vhf band. Next would be 70cm band but if you get a single band radio it’s most likely 2m. There is a lot of equipment out there that would need to be replaced by people and clubs without a lot of financing. The repeaters serve immensely important roles.
For instance around me in Texas most of the storm spotters for NWS (skywarn) use 2m bands. Not having the repeaters may mean the difference between people being dead or alive when a tornado come through. I can’t over state the importance of these repeaters. But if forced to replace them there will not be enough funds to get the new equipment, antennas, etc.
I do however have hope the ITU has the foresight to protect the band.
Edit: oh and I forgot to mention iirc the ISS uses 2m as their backup communication. It’s used at least a few times a month. That’s how prolific the band is.
Forgive the pun but I don't think this will fly.
Here is a better article:
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2019/june/france-proposes-1...
And without an irritating ad-blocker detector, if you want your stuff to be read don't block it with this sort of nonsense.
Just click it away.
Just like this bit about them re-allocating the band away from Morse-using hams.
Just click the interference away. Keep clicking and nobody will be able to use the frequency.
Though there is precedent for it -- from back in the days of the "Russian woodpecker", an OTH RADAR system. Some used to key up and play various sounds at it...
Or start surfing with Javascript off as default. The popup must be JS-based as I can't see it. :)
Thales, the French military aerospace company, seems to be behind this band-grab. They're apparently looking to use the 2-meter band to control drones and unmanned aircraft.
The good news is that there is enough 2m equipment out there that there could actually be a feasible mass radio protest and intentionally render the band unusable. There is no way in hell the FCC or similar authorities abroad could ever actually track down all the equipment or have the manpower to deal with violations. They cannot even stop robocalls in the US.
It would be extemely detrimental if we lost the 2M band but this is not the right way to "protest" it.
Fortunately, I don't think this constitutes a real threat to the worldwide amateur 2M band. A "reassignment" of 144-146 MHz worldwide, as described here, is simply not going to happen -- not for this purpose, at least.
I'm not a HAM operator, but I agree that it does seem like a really bad idea to re-assign a band frequently used for stuff like emergency communications. Still, if someone caused a plane to fall down just to make a point then I would assign the blame to that person and not the operator of the plane.
If I get kicked out of the 2m band, I doubt I'll move to a 70cm radio, why spend the money (including helping the local ham club replace their repeater) if there's no guarantee I can stay there.
The USA gets what is essentially free disaster communications in return for a few MHz of bandwidth. Seems like a small price to pay.
144-146Mhz is probably the most active band given the low cost of equipment and high utility due to not being dependent on the solar cycle.
It would also be insane to attempt to re-allocate this band for any other purpose, given how many millions of transmitters on this band already exist out there. The average car-mounted transceiver puts out 50 W. Many base stations run at hundreds of Watts, and are attached to quite excellent antennas (e.g. my parents have an 18 foot antenna on a mast at the top of their house, with a total base elevation of around 40 feet).
Good luck taking over the band. None of these drones can put out a tiny fraction of the power that the existing users of the band are already emitting.
Never mind the fact that there would then suddenly be thousands of radios that could transmit on air band frequencies now in the hands of folks who ain't too happy.
This is akin to shutting down the 27 MHz band for some other purpose, it isn't going to happen unless there is a very good reason for it and no single commercial entity should be able to monopolize a chunk of the spectrum for worldwide use if it is already in use.
Fortunately the popularity of 2m means the backlash here will be swift and forceful, if 2m can't be preserve for amateur use then no band can.
Tab closed.
Speaking of adblocker blockers, Nano Defender[1] is quite effective at blocking them.
I understand it may be an active community, but it's tiny. Why should this valuable spectrum be set aside for this purpose?
Just go on IRC.
As someone who works in the commercial radio industry, I understand where you're coming from - the amateur radio radio bands are relatively silent (but definitely not unused) compared the the commercial/business bands, which is frustrating. There are applications which are difficult or impossible to do for customers that would be doable if amateur spectrum was reallocated for commercial uses.
That being said, having "amateurs" (who often know as much or more about radio than people who do it for a living) be able to experiment and learn radio is a net benefit to society.
Oh? Isn't this comparable to "let's start allocating class E to help IPv4 live longer"? IOW: It's just a piss in the ocean, and wouldn't help meaningfully. (and also would raise a whole bunch of problems like $millions to $billions in deployed existing equipment, and other problems mentioned elsewhere)
I'm sure it'd be great for someone to get 2m band, or 70cm band. But you (the commercial operator) wouldn't get it, would you? It'd be sold to someone and it'd be gone from amateurs and from you.
Near 70cm there's the commercial FM band that you could argue has way more than 2MHz of just slack between stations.
Or am I missing something?
Two issues arise from this limitation - you may not be able to get as many frequencies as you want (perhaps you want 10 channels to have overlayed networks and/or repeaters). You also may not be able to get a 25kHz channel, which used to be the default assignment, and now is special request/justification only due to band crowding. Smaller channels = less bandwidth = less potential applications. In extremely crowded areas, there may be no available frequencies at all (or they may be limited to a few watts, reducing range and potential applications).
Amateurs currency have access to 420-450 MHz, an even larger band. If any of that were to be re-assigned, in theory it would be easier to get more channels or larger channels (there's no technical reason you could operate at 50kHz or 100kHz in that band, for example). Opening up even 2 MHz of spectrum could mean tens of thousands of additional stations could get on the air or new or existing licensees could get larger, faster channels.
A common misconception is that all commercial frequencies are auctioned off for geographically exclusive operation - this isn't true in this band and some others. A 10 year license is available to any American citizen, business, or municipal organization for about ~$500.
edit: I am aware this article is about 144-148 MHz, not 400 MHz. 150-174 MHz is more or less adjacent to the 2m band, and is handled by the FCC in more or less the same way as the 450-470 MHz band.
I worry about slippery slope it would create. AFAIU, opening up those few MHz out of amateur band would let tens of thousands of commercial station to pop up... and the band would get crowded again, leading to pleads for the amateurs to release couple more MHz, until eventually amateurs are no more in this part of the spectrum.
Take the Boston Marathon Bombing, of all the communication infrastructure Amateur Radio was one of the few that stayed up[1].
It's really common for hams to provide event support in cases like that and other events where cell communication is limited to none at best(think bike races out in rural areas).
Spend a bit of time poking around the hobby, you might find it's more interesting than first glance.
[1] http://www.arrl.org/news/radio-amateurs-provide-communicatio...
In other words, your smartphone isn't going to work, thus IRC isn't going to work. Even in areas hit by simple things such as power outages. Or events that take place over a wide geographic area with little to no cell service (think automobile rallies, marathons, biking events, etc). All these need reliable, inexpensive communications, and people to run them.
Next time you're stuck in an area hit by a natural disaster, and you've made it out alive, there's a significant chance amateur radio played a part in that.
Or, more likely, professional radio.
Even companies have one or more amateur radio stations on site and several licensed and experienced communicators, just in case. I've worked at 3 and I'm familiar with dozens.
I suggest reading up on how it’s used before making assumptions.
Tiny community? 630,000 licensed hams in the USA ... about 2.5 hams for every thousand adults. Very roughly, about the same number of hams as there are police officers in America.
These hams often provide communications to such events as marathons (where people are spread out across a city), regional bike races (which sometimes happen where there's no cell phone service), as well as back-up communications during such troubles as forest fires.
Those hams who check into 2-meter emergency response networks are the people who your community will depend when the phone system croaks.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/47/97.1
47 CFR § 97.1
(a) Recognition and enhancement of the value of the amateur service to the public as a voluntary noncommercial communication service, particularly with respect to providing emergency communications.
(b) Continuation and extension of the amateur's proven ability to contribute to the advancement of the radio art.
(c) Encouragement and improvement of the amateur service through rules which provide for advancing skills in both the communication and technical phases of the art.
(d) Expansion of the existing reservoir within the amateur radio service of trained operators, technicians, and electronics experts.
(e) Continuation and extension of the amateur's unique ability to enhance international goodwill.
The comparison to IRC would be more apropos for the HF bands.
http://www.arrl.org/news/us-amateur-radio-population-grows-s...
Not only do the operators themselves provide value in that they have alternative means for communicating in an emergency but most of them possess skills that come in handy during an emergency or in remote areas.
For example, they understand radio waves, the radio spectrum, and how waves travel through space. I remember my father telling me as a child how some signals travel outwards from the source in all directions, some waves travel in a straight line, and some will follow the curvature of the Earth. I remember him telling me that on the ground during 9-11 there were so many Nextel walkie-talkie's at ground zero (all of them with their signal power maxxed-out) and as a result of all the interference nobody could get a meaningful signal out.
Lots of HAM operators also understand circuitry, logic, programming, properties of electromagnetic fields, complex wiring, complex electro-mechanical assemblies, heavy mechanical assemblies like towers/antennas. They're also incredibly passionate, and mostly understand and respect the importance of strict regulatory compliance.
In short, when shit hits the fan and the EMP's start taking everything out we're gonna need someone to fire up some good ol' fashioned logistics/networking in a jiffy... And they HAM crowd is going to be the only one capable, willing, and eager to do that.