Yep the government says that no one owns any particular frequency. So how can they sell something that nobody owns? Oh wait, it is the government, that explains it all. Government, fixing problems you didn't know you had, in ways you just can't understand. Goodnight.......
Hi Folks! Been active in the VHF/UHF and microwaves for a long time and currently, my most frequent day to day use of ham radio is 2m and 70cm FM and DMR, and AREDN Mesh networks that are mostly on 5 GHz. I do some AREDN mesh on 2.4 GHz, and a little on 900 MHz, but I leave those for user access devices going into the mesh either as nodes or as Wi-Fi access points (2.4 GHz). This is every day and continuously in both New Jersey (Bergen/Passaic Counties) and in Live Oak, Florida in Suwannee County. Oh and BTW: I love to contest on HF, VHF or whatever. I also like POTA and similar activities OUTSIDE and I also like to do public service support work as a ham and as a trained COM-L/COM-T. My home, mobile and portable stations are all set for HF/VHF/UHF and microwave operation. I also operate HF several times a week and have a functional Winlink station, too! In many areas, you can operate these VHF+ bands and no one will notice, or if they do notice they won't even care to join you or even mention it! It is like a a big secret! (Well not really!) So I encourage you to promote your activities, projects and networks. We do a lousy job of talking about what we do. To hack a well-known telecom business joke into the Amateur Radio space: "Communications is our hobby and not our practice!" Hotspots are a nice way to get a signal on these VHF and UHF bands, too! Everyone can use one - even in an HOA, a one room studio, a closet, or on a 20 acre spread. Experiment in your home, your then your neighborhood. Alone or with others, try linking the IP backhaul on mesh networks instead of on the public Internet. You could even split the difference and use Amateur Radio mesh networks in your community to provide a series of open hotspots and leverage the availability of different broadband Internet carriers, both wired and wireless to provide your group with alternatives for both reliability and functionality. If you can't reach your fellow ham over the radio, then "tunnel" over the public Internet to connect your "RF islands". In New Jersey, we have several of us on different different cable and telephone carriers and cellular wireless. Even in rural Florida, I switch loads between Windstream's bonded pair DSL and AT&T's cellular wireless depending on what is going on. All have static IPs, so that makes backhaul tunnels and Internet gateways easier to manage, but you don;t need them to do most things effectively. Another aspect of networking is that many of us like analog voice for its voice quality over some digital modes. The next experiment is going to be the addition of a SHARI interface to a Raspberry Pi for analog hotspots and remote Echolink for FM repeaters using the AllStar network. We will integrate that with the VoIP phones which sound lovely, on our mesh networks to access these radios, Echolink and even for the HamShack Hotline network. Again, the backhaul for much of this will be on 5 GHz using the AREDN mesh. So while y'all complain about what big, bad government is taking away from us, let's remind ourselves that the general population wants turn-key communications systems and that government, specifically the FCC is their agent in "brokering" access to the spectrum. The auction process is simply the government taking their slice of the pie to "reinvest" in infrastructure and other things not related to telecommunications. A small reminder is needed here. The FCC runs the auction process the direction and under the authority of laws put into place by Congress and signed by the President. They have done that under both D & R administrations and legislative majorities. In the end, the funds go to the government's general fund unless there are specific provisions associated with a specific auction. The previously referenced Intelsat payment and the television broadcaster's spectrum repacking payments are two such examples. So given this evolving environment, are you going to do nothing because: 1. "The FCC is going to take it all away someday." or 2. "The ARRL focused on only contesting"? (BTW: They didn't!) Of course not! You should use what spectrum you have and invest in both time and components prudently. It's not all going to go away if we are active and if we show our activity. Side note: When I saw the public and commercial interest in what became the CBRS spectrum (3.55-3.7 GHz), I figured that the adjacent C-band spectrum above and below it would be taken in short order and that is what you are starting to see now. Given that, I focused more on 5 GHz and that has been a good bet. There are already moves to take some of our 5 GHz spectrum away, but there are stickier issues with spectrum clearance for commercial use there than there were for 3-4 GHz. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/02/06/2020-02086/use-of-the-5850-5925-ghz-band So get on the air and experiment, play, learn, have some cheap fun, and do some good for others both within the Amateur Radio community and the broader civic, educational and emergency response communities as well. Here are some useful links (Please respond with more in your comments!): www.arednmesh.org www.echolink.org www.radioid.net brandmeister.network www.allstarlink.org hamprojects.info/shari hamshackhotline.com hamshackhotline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/HH-FAQ.pdf winlink.org parksontheair.com I could go on and on, but this is enough to get folks thinking and hopefully doing. We can all add to it, talk about it, but most importantly, we need to go out and do it. then we must socialize it with existing hams, prospective hams and the general public and public officials. Show what we are doing and why it is inherently good. FORGET THE AXE-GRINDING. It's not a productive use of anyone's time. Instead, put our best foot forward and make some progress for our great hobby! VY 73 and have a Blessed New Year! Gordon Beattie, W2TTT AT ATT DOT NET 201.314.6964
Maybe you could go talk to the usual suspects and get them on board with your skin thickening scheme. Sure would save management a lot of grief.
I don't see it. I get some great QSOs on the bands and they are far from silent. Nets and just conversation goes away when the contests are running. Still trying to figure out what contesting contributes though, maybe try explaining what contests do to advance the art over normal use? Sorry, when I hear people saying they are into "radio sport" I get the same feeling when gamers use a similar term. Fox hunting may be a sport but yelling "CQ contest" over and over while ignoring other operators on the bands isn't.
Well, nobody can force you to like contesting or contesters, but you should try it sometime. To do it right is fun and competitive. But if not that's OK ham radio has something for everyone. 73
Uuummmmmm 5G transmissions. Feel your organs shutting down? Notice your thoughts are cloudy, reaction time decrease..... Nothing like being around signals that interfere with the human body's normal functions. Quite ignorant to wilfully pay for it.
To be clear, 5G has nothing to do with FX. 5G is just the next Generation (5th Generation) of 3GPP specs. It is still LTE (OFDMA) and can be used on any FX that has enough bandwidth, of 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20+ MHZ contiguous. 5G is just a low latency radio (NR-New Radio). They are putting 5G on 850MHZ right now. They even have the ability to do DSS (Dynamic Spectrum Sharing) that will have a dual mode. Legacy 4G LTE and 5G LTE on the same channel. Current 3GPP spec is 5G NR is "non stand alone". Means it has to have legacy 4G LTE as the mapping signal. What is being referenced as far as range, is the MMwave bands. 28 and 39GHz. Additionally the CBRS bands 3.4-3.7ghz (Incumbent, PLA, and GAA) along with the whats being auctioned in the 3.7-4.2GHz. These will allow for multiple 2oMHZ wide channels (or larger) to allow "Ultra WideBand". In high capacity situations, propagation is not king. As lower FX's create higher interference as the channels have a re-use factor of 0zero (the same FX is used nationwide on every cell on ever sector). Since Data throughput is directly related to BW and SNR (along with EVM), reduction in interference is necessary for Ultra Wideband. 600/700/800 have great options for filling in gaps between macros but they have no where near the BW of the higher FX's. So 600/700 is not the "sweet spot" for propagation and BW. It is quite the opposite. The industry actually considers the 3.5-4.2GHz CBRS/C+ band to be the sweet spot.
No secret why the Government sells spectrum - it is like buying protection. You pay them to use it and they protect you from others trying to do so.
As of midnight this morning I'm still high bidder on 13.9 - 14.4 mhz .. Once that auction is over we're putting up a 100 KW Slow Scan TV video endless loop of Hitler playing the banjo. Erika DD
THE FCC SHOULD BE CONDEMNED FOR "SELLING OFF" PUBLIC DOMAIN FREQUENCIES!!! As the FCC has told we hams many times:"NO ONE OWNS ANY FREQUENCY", THAT SHOULD MEAN OUR FCC AS WELL!!! :-( THEY "MANAGE THEM" ONLY!!!
