Cuban Government Jamming 40 meter US HAM BAND

With all of the social media available to us today is only a matter of time before one little comment "goes viral" and makes it around the world. Which other social media outlets do you think we all have access to? If everyone looking at this post just shares it one time on social media it might just make it to the mainstream news.

 

Of course there has been jamming in the past.

Here's the deal: We are licensed hams. The license that gives us access to the spectrum we're privileged to operate in includes responsibilities. One of those responsibilities is to report ANYTHING that's getting into our bands. That's our responsibility. We don't get to decide that since someone else may or may not do their job that our responsibility is null.

TL;DR: If we don't do our jobs, we don't get to complain about anyone else.

Oh well. At least there will be one report in the blasted database. I'm going back for some solder therapy. This place reminds me why I left facebook 10 years ago.

 

To set the record straight (from six days ago):

“We stand with the Cuban people and their clarion call for freedom and relief from the tragic grip of the pandemic and from the decades of repression and economic suffering to which they have been subjected by Cuba’s authoritarian regime. The Cuban people are bravely asserting fundamental and universal rights. Those rights, including the right of peaceful protest and the right to freely determine their own future, must be respected. The United States calls on the Cuban regime to hear their people and serve their needs at this vital moment rather than enriching themselves.”
--The current administration

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing...sident-joseph-r-biden-jr-on-protests-in-cuba/
73,
Jim

EARTH: LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT​

 

I'm mostly a CW op and don't operate phone too much but just had voice QSO's with LZ2VU and LZ4EB right through the jamming. Yes, they can hear the jamming too - but they're making Q's right through it anyway. At 03:30 July 29 UTC they are still on 7170 LSB

Best way to flip the jammers off might be to just keep using the band.

 

The crap seems to be all upband. Down below 7025, on CW, I just worked @LZ1EV, @OV1CDX, and @F5IN.

73,
Jim

EARTH: LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT​

 

The thread is probably useful to some degree... Today I was working FT8 on 17 meters. The band was open to the Caribbean and a couple of Cuban stations were on. Suddenly, I heard what sounded like a raspy buzzing signal and there were signals all across the waterfall that looked very similar to those shown in this thread and the other one. (thread that is...)

The Cubans seemed not to be affected and neither were al the others working the waterhole this afternoon. Point being, that if that was jamming, it was ineffective at least on 17 today. and it was not there for very long.

Just another data point for consideration.

 

I think I was victim to this Saturday July 17th. I was doing a POTA activation on 7.230 in Eastern North Carolina. Started transmitting around 22:23 UTC and appox @ 22:45 ,I got a loud QRM signal. Lasted about 1 minute then was gone.

 

Maybe yes mostly no. Lot of things that allow fast bursts such as you experienced. AC frequency drives on high horsepower motors are notorious for that type of interference along with other industrial operations. Jamming is usually a long lasting effect.

 

Finally, someone who gets it. TU

 

THE "interference " seems to be in MULTIPLES---- around 7 130 7 168 LOWER AND ABOVE ---but there are still plenty of USEABLE space on 40 for qso's.....

 

Maybe I got it wrong or maybe Im a relatively new ham and just don’t understand older hams mindset. But these are our bands. Yes we’re secondary users but we have privilege to use them. When the fcc gives away a portion of the band, everyone is up in arms. And when a decent portion of one the most popular ham bands is jammed by an entity that is jamming the frequency in order to halt beneficial communications to its people, no one cares and is willing to spin the vfo to “useable” portions without complaint. Including the ARRL. If no one is willing to complain about it, who’s to say the FCC will one day go after those portions of the band that ham radio operators just let go passively.

 

1. What we do as individuals on air has no bearing or restriction on the ARRL, FCC or Dept. of State do.
2. Work through the interference if you wish.
3. On the other, hand, if you enjoy having a jack hammer in your ear, when other frequencies are clear; Go for it!

As a former military comm operator, we trained to work through jamming because of necessity to accomplish the mission, and due to peace time comm plan limitations. As amateurs, we don't have the same limitations.

 

My money is on Cuba. Josh from Ham Radio Crash Course (YouTube) has a short video on using digital software to triangulate where the signals were coming from. You guessed it, Cuba. Or maybe aliens living in Cuba...

 

40m is a primary allocation for amateurs, not secondary.

And I care very deeply about the situation, and the jamming. But the most effective way to show that we care, and to protect any of our allocations, is to use them despite any interference.