If you don't know what the rule is maybe you shouldn't comment. Eliminating the rule will only make commercial linear amps better. Otherwise watts are still watts. It will have little to no effect on communications. Or even the already CB sounding bands. P.S. I used to love 75m about 20-25 years ago. Now it does sound like a CB band. Even the terminology and slang being used on 75m is from CB radio! :-( Thank you, Ed WD4ED
Why would anyone worry over this issue anyway, if someone wants to go 1 KW, they can... I have no issue of any kind with the removal of the 15 db limits. I don't care what CBers do, I don't care what QRPers think about what power levels I should or should not run, keep it to yourself, nor do I care what QROers think about QRPers either. As long as everyone behaves like Gentlemen, we are fine... The fools will behave like fools at any power level, and the Gentlemen will behave like Gentlemen at all power levels. Somehow I don't think that there lurks a secret reservoir of insane ops, all running less than 100 watts, who can't afford 100 watt radios, and just waiting to be unleashed on the ham bands by this possible rule change, much like the "Walking Dead".
This may be slightly off topic but "Citizen Band" frequencies are like any other phone/voice frequencies. Garbage in, garbage out. What I mean is this: It's all about operator discipline and more often than not, restraint. Ok, back on topic. The North American Continent is a very large land mass and with the ever growing noise floor, 100 watts is often not enough. I'm not a DX'er but a 100 watts rarely breaks through a pile-up unless conditions are very good. Much has changed since I left the radio service (good and not good) and I've heard things on certain ham bands that I never remember hearing on CB. Either way, I'm back and glad of it.
QRP is fine for digital modes but for phone, especially AM, QRO is the key. I love the awesome sound and pure signals coming from todays SDR's and I for one totally concur with this proposal. Time to allow progress and technology to move forward and not be hindered by outdated draconian laws. The truth is if Mr Bailey's concerns won't make a bit of difference. The CBers that run illegal power already do it, many with the worst equipment of IMD. Let's move forward.
I simply can't understand, nor can respect, the interventionalist nanny statist mentality of those who beg for government to ban & regulate everything that may be dangerous or abused by other groups of people who they believe to be inferior, or less capable, than themselves... Last time I checked, it's not hard to purchase a PA for 11m... Also, last time I checked, these 'bootleg' PA's intentioned for 11m don't follow the 15dB gain rule either... The opinion that removing the 15dB regulation will open the 11m flood gates of hell onto the innocent & peaceful amateur bands seems to be a rather poor argument... Does Europe have issues w/ hoards of Chicken Banders ruining their blissful amateur radio utopia w/ high gain PA's? Seems government regulation has once again failed to address the problem it was aimed at, but somehow it makes sense to keep it because of 'feelings'... If someone wishes to break the law, they will usually find a way to break the law, regardless of the laws stating that you should not break the law... What's more likely to cause a crappy distorted signal for the average well meaning 'hobbyist' who may not have a clear understanding of how things actually work, nor the equipment to ensure that gain settings are optimal, and are VERY LIKELY to get fed a lot of poor information from others who pretend to know what they're talking about: 1. Three discrete power amps all cascaded together where input & output levels / ALC need to be level matched, and each amplifier amplifies the distortion of the previous stage because there is no global feedback loop circling the 15dB gain stages? 2. OR a small low distortion 10 watt Class A PA driving only 5 watts into a high gain Class AB linear where the bulk of the power gain is within a closed loop feedback system? I would love to be able to take the 10 watt Class A predriver stage of just about every 100 watt transceiver design I've seen and feed it directly into a commercially available high gain outboard linear. I would love to see the big three compete with a new class of $1500 transceivers w/ a low distortion 10 watt Class A output where the dollars have been spent on the receiver, features, and user interface, instead of a 100 watt PA. I would love to see commercially available outboard PA's in the 200 - 500 watt range that only need 1 watt drive. I would love to not waste 20 amps of DC current in order to drive a legal limit linear.
I do not support this legislation request for amps. The Cb mentality has already ruined the bands. Just listen to 3840 7200 or 7255 for examples of trash talking Cbrs. Twisting the tuning knob is not the answer.....We need to get back to responsible operators.
[QUOTE="KD9FVT, post: 3832798, member: 792951]The North American Continent is a very large land mass and with the ever growing noise floor, 100 watts is often not enough. I'm not a DX'er but a 100 watts rarely breaks through a pile-up unless conditions are very good.[/QUOTE] Let's take that ever-growing noise floor and dump some fuel on the fire. Maybe bring it up around S9+20dB? When the market gets flooded with these "Baofeng linears" being overdriven by folks that think you need as many bars of ALC as you can get, you'll see the renewed interest in everyone getting their "Worked All Stereos" award. Can't wait to see these things splattering all over the scope and the ensuing kilowatts arms race. My commentary to the FCC will be, simply: "Can I get a BREAK ONE TIME, one time, can I get a BREAK up in that Watergate City for that Regulator, that Regulator working for Uncle Sam on these brick amps..."
I absolutely support overturning this archaic rule. The space saving possibility's of a DXpedition using Elecraft KX3's and a KPA500 (or SPE Expert 1.3 kW) would be wonderful. The main reason DXpeditions have to lug along a K3 or other "large" rigs is only to provide the drive power for HF amplifiers..................The KX3 has a proven track record as a wonder small radio perfect for DXpeditions. It's only Achilles heal is it's inability to drive amplifiers t0 QRO levels. Tom KH8/KC0W
Why are you people taking this issue and turning into the "Bad example frequencies" that have been plaguing us for decades? Those guys are actually HAMS and most are Extra's that passed CW tests. This issue has nothing to do with the other. STOP IT.
Lets revise the power limit first - 2KW carrier output. And bring back the CW requirement at 20 WPM for extras. PS....These SDR radio's can of course be built with proper 100W PA's... it's just a matter of willingness to design radio's that do so. The USA hardly has any lead on this stuff either. Finally, the suggested letter makes no sense to a non-amateur - too technical for a non-ham (probably too technical for the cb-to-extra in a day variety we have on the ham bands too)...
