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Author Topic: VANISHING BAND ?  (Read 645 times)

KB3QWC

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Re: VANISHING BAND ?
« Reply #15 on: February 25, 2023, 12:00:50 PM »

I know that the last Frost Fest in Richmond, VA the group was promoting more activity on 900 MHz. 

They were selling already converted and programmed for the area EF Johnson 5100s for a good price.

I don't have any 900 MHz gear, but if activity would like to try, as like WA3SKN said many repeaters my local Baltimore Area.

I am in Richmond twice a week for and with staying over have a lot of time to play ham radio in the evenings. 

Going forward I will most likely program the have repeaters in both areas into one of my scanners to listen for activity. 
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N1YFA

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Re: VANISHING BAND ?
« Reply #16 on: March 04, 2023, 02:29:17 PM »

900 MHZ ? I guess nobody uses it. (?) I'd guess not enough  amateurs to cover all bands. (?)

It pretty simple. Out of all the Hams I have talked to most don't want to bother with anything that doesn't involve chucking a wire in a tree and talking (wait for it............ here it comes) around the world. There are what? almost 3/4 of a million license holders? (I read somewhere). There are plenty of Hams to occupy those bands. Unfortunately, I know of Hams who are in the process of upgrading their license or have upgraded their license because they literally think that the only privileges they have are a tiny portion on 10m, 6m, 2m, and 70cm. They literally have no idea that they have almost 2 GHz worth of bands to play with. Technicians have all privileges and all modes on all Ham bands from 50 MHz on up.
 The issue is that most get their ticket, jump on 2 meters, try to have a conversation and find that no one is there except for one or two guys who tell them they have to upgrade to go where the action is - on HF. Once they do that, they almost never bother with anything above 10 meters. Now multiply that by how many Hams do that and well....... you want to know why there are no Hams using these very local shorter wavelength bands....... That HF contesting..... Its like a drug no one can kick.

Personally I would love to experiment with a lot of those bands 1.25m, 23cm, and higher.  However it takes two people to talk, and even if it is a one person activity such as the mesh networks you can work with, I am about as familiar with it as a 100 year old person is with building an operating system for a computer from scratch. I would need a lot of help. When everyone is on HF and they refuse to play with anything up there and you are in the bands that literally don't get used with the exception of a few groups spread out over the whole United States, well, your Ham Radio experience will be not so good. This is why the FCC takes Ham Bands away. Some rich billionaire or company comes along needing frequencies and are willing to pay. Hams aren't using the bands? Well, you know where those frequencies go. Money talks and you know what walks. Its the sad truth. I feel real bad for those who actually do use those bands or want to use them. One day we wont have any of them. Already, 900 MHz is a shared band with low power devices and intercoms last I knew.
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W1VT

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Re: VANISHING BAND ?
« Reply #17 on: March 04, 2023, 03:17:14 PM »

When I played with 10GHz I built a dozen transverters and lent them out to my friends.
I'd try different circuits.  Some of them worked really well and some not so well. 
 I learned how to rebuild/fix a lot of circuits and cobbled scraps into perfectly usable
transverters with about 200mW out and 3 dB NF. 
Which could cover a lot of ground on CW with a 20 dBi horn from a good mountaintop location.

Zak W1VT
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W7XTV

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Re: VANISHING BAND ?
« Reply #18 on: March 04, 2023, 07:59:53 PM »

I don't have much 900 MHz noise here... must be "location".
And we "share" all bands above 400 MHz as secondary users here in the USA, so it would be easy to lose them... we are not "primary" users.  There is now a "commercial demand" now that it is economical to use the bandwidth.

-Mike.

Yes, but the military has more than a little say about that.  Somehow I doubt that the rest of our UHF/SHF spectrum will be sold, other than what has already happened.  AFAIK, there has been no effort by Big Telecom to snag more military frequencies for their commercial use.

We're on the verge of losing 3300-3500 MHz, but will it be missed?  It just isn't being used much by hams.  420-450 and 1240-1300 MHz are probably safe.  902-928 MHz is predominately ISM; not going anywhere.  Most, if not all of the 2.4 and 5.6 GHz bands definitely are safe, if only because of the millions upon millions of WiFi users that post no threat to military use.  I don't see ham use being discontinued, either. 
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He speaks fluent PSK31, in FT8...  One QSO with him earns you 5BDXCC...  His Wouff Hong has two Wouffs... Hiram Percy Maxim called HIM "The Old Man..."  He is... The Most Interesting Ham In The World!
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