Cuban Government Jamming 40 meter US HAM BAND

Now you've changed the problem. You're not suggesting that they use CW or FT8 in the SSB area of the band, right?

Think about the sorts of communication the Cuban government is trying to stop with their jamming. Remember that the operators there they are trying to stop aren't the ones on FT8 (which is hard to have a conversation on...) and the end of the band where CW lives. Recall what Alex taught us on the interview with HRCC - recall why that frequency range is used and why other COs with wider privileges also congregate there.

Also - the other aspect of this which applies to all other hams - is that our band is being interfered with and we have a duty to report it and push on our member org to do their jobs...

 

Or maybe is a Silent Key who has yet to leave? 73 Rich

 

Good grief. I didn’t watch that video. If you can’t discuss a simple question without referring to a lengthy video, and in a “schooling” tone, then don’t bother.

 

You don't have to watch the video or read the entire post since thread one but it sure helps before you make an uninformed comment.

 

I asked a question.

Not everyone is current on every detail of this situation 24/7 second by second.

You have a strange attitude for someone who keeps asking for help here.

 

My friend, I've told you straight 'just the facts' and you didn't get it. So I tried a bit of Socratic questioning. That didn't work. I referenced others, and you've said you don't want to watch. What I'm left with, because of the above and because of the way the question keeps changing is that you don't want to understand. That's your call, of course. I remain willing to help you understand but you have to do your part.

 

I do not agree with that at all, but won’t waste more time on the topic.

 

I'll start with the TL DR (modified to keep the forum software from inserting an emoticon):
- New hams in Cuba (Third Class licensees) are limited to the lower voice portion of the 40 meter band when they operate on 40.
- Third Class licensees are limited to 10 Watts
- Most hams build their own radios using a couple of local designs - all are limited to 40 meters
- 40 meters allows almost 24 hour propagation between Cuba and the largest expat community in Miami
- I can't find any indication that Third Class licensees are allowed to operate in the 'CW/Data' portion of 40. I know CO (1st class) hams can operate CW and FT8, for example, but don't know when that capability begins - with 3rd, 2nd, or 1st class licenses.
- Third class licensees must have 2 years' experience before advancing to 2nd class
- The younger people are the ones coordinating the protests on social media and on ham radio. Anyone wanting to restrict their ability to coordinate only needs to block a narrow section of the 40 meter voice band
- For jamming to be effective, think about a bell curve - neutralizing the middle 80% is more than enough, especially when it's relatively easy to do.

In his video with HRCC, W7HU/Alex reported some info on tiers and restrictions on ham licenses in Cuba. Alex was licensed ham in Cuba before emigrating to the US on a raft some time after high school. He said that younger/new hams with their first tier license (third class) are restricted to a narrow portion of the 40 meter spectrum. I'm re-watching the video to see if he gives the bad edges. I do recall him saying that their allowable area is basically what we consider to be the "AE" portion at the lower end of the SSB area of 40.

I didn't understand their limitations, so did a bit of searching. Google brought me this piece from the ARRL from 2017:
http://www.arrl.org/news/cuba-institutes-new-amateur-radio-regulations

Excerpts that I found useful (emphasis mine):

"...in clear language..." doesn't mean voice only as some digital and sound card modes were allowed starting in 2012, according to this post: https://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/cubas-radio-hams-get-new-digimodes.347439/

These words from W7HU/Alex (with timestamps from the HRCC video) helped me understand.

Q: Why is the area of 40 meters from 7.1 MHz up so important to Cuban hams?
A: Forty meter band is the most common band ham radio operators use in Cuba and I'm going to tell you why. First, because all the ham radio operators in Cuba build their own radios. It's a lot easier for them to make 40 meter rigs because there are two or three guys that have designed radios (that others build) and they're designed for 40 meters. Number 2: guys - you've passed a test to get a license. Forty meter band is the perfect band to work between Miami and Havana, Matanzas, and Camaguey because there is no skip propagation pretty much the entire day. If you go to 20 meters and want to talk to someone in Havana you're not going to make it because the skip propagation. That's very simple. The other thing is because of the proximity. We are in Miami and have good propagation with Cuba. What happens in Miami? The biggest Cuban community. The exiles are here in Miami and that is why they (the Cuban government) care(s).

I hope this is useful to at least one person here.
73

 

Another useful item from the video (emphasis mine):


Q: "This is more likely to be spurious signals from the Cuban government jamming Cuban radio stations with poorly engineered equipment. Jamming only a portion of the 40m amateur band doesn't make a lot of sense for numerous reasons."
A: There is three categories in Cuba (licenses). The third category they only can talk from 7.100 t0 7.125 (MHz). And those are the younger operators...the new kids, the young people, the teenagers, the 30s, the 40s people. Not the old ones that have COs (1st class license calls) that have been there for years and can go all the way to 300 (7.3 MHz). (Most Cuban hams don't operate above 7.2 because they want to stay in the lower part of the band where they can talk to other Cubans.)

Please excuse the typo in the preceding post. I intended 'band edges' not 'bad edges'. mea culpa.

 

Jamming report submitted to ARRL and IARU for nighttime CDT hours of 27 July UTC.

I'm only seeing three emissions from San Antonio: 7115 (affects 7112.5-7117.5) at S8, 7157 (7152-7162) S9, and 7215 (7212-7218) S9.

 

@W7HU just watched the above video, I enjoyed listening to what you had to say.

 

Excellent discussion in the video. Thank you for posting. Interesting description about Cuban ham band structure per license class. I never knew the difference between the CL CM & CO license classes.

73 de Ray ..._ ._

 

I figured that the ARRL involved American hams and the IARU involved international hams. As an American ham I am also part of the international ham radio community. So, as a member of the international ham radio community, I wrote the IARU.. I didn't want to get political so when I wrote the IARU I simply said that I believe the signals were coming from Region 2... They replied that they knew about the signals and I should contact the ARRL. So as an American, my communications with the IARU need to be passed through a filter! BTW, they gave me no information on the signals.
Another demonstration of a bureaucracy passing the buck.... Depressing to say the least!

 

I agree with You Corky!
In a world like today's where is so easy to search out and find information and corroborate ideas seems like the attitude is the same everywhere.
Where are the people who stand for the rights of the Radio Amateur worldwide?
We are losing more and more bands every day to the commercial interests and now to foreign governments.
The system designed to aid in times like this is broken and has failed us.

 

Thank you for taking the time to sending a complaint to the IARU!

Yes, the IARU is international. They have a monitoring program point of contact for each of three regions. Their reporting instructions say to contact our national member organization first, then forward to the IARU region point of contact. The National orgs are supposed to compile reports (and be informed by them...) and forward them to IARU. The chain to ITU (a UN agency) for hams licensed in the US is ARRL, IARU Region 2, ITU. For hams in the UK it's RSGB to IARU Region 1, ITU.

Here's the page to the IARU Region 2 monitoring program: https://www.iarums-r2.org/indexen.html
Here's a page with the IARU region map: https://www.iaru-r1.org/about-us/organisation-and-history/regions/
Here's a page with national member societies and monitoring program points of contact: https://www.iaru.org/reference/member-societies/

Feel free to forward the email you sent to the IARU to the ARRL as a courtesy - they're having high level meetings to figure out how to respond to the jamming and need to know we want them to act. Send to hq@arrl.org and w6rod@arrl.org (w6rod is the IARU Region 2 liaison and VP of international Affairs).

Thank you again and 73