[600MRG] It seems reasonable to assume UTC will continue opposition to Ham Radio 630m and 2200m operations

[sbjohnston at aol.com]

In my work as a broadcast engineer I once received a call from a power company technician complaining that our AM station was "interfering" with one of their control carriers on a power line.  I explained that we had no responsibility in that kind of situation but I'd be glad to help him figure out what was happening.  I asked for confirmation that it was my station - he said he could hear our audio perfectly when he listened to the system with the speaker on the front of the receiving unit.  I asked what frequency their carrier system used - he said 1.31 MHz.  I then asked what form of modulation their system used - the answer was amplitude-modulation with modem tones as the audio.  

I laughed and told him I would have been surprised if they did not hear our 5000 watt station on 1310 kHz - they had managed to tune their system to our signal exactly and have the biggest receive antenna in town!   I suggested he tune their transmit and receive units to another frequency - one that wasn't in use already by broadcasters in our city.  He wanted to know how to pick a frequency.  I suggested he go out to his vehicle and turn on the radio and find a frequency that didn't have a strong station on it.  He didn't seem to understand so I just told him a couple likely channels not near our frequency and wished him good luck.

Point of the story? We may not find the UTC or the companies that make up the organization have much understanding of the RF issues involved with 630m and 2200m amateur operations.


 

Steve WD8DAS / WH2XHY

sbjohnston at aol.com
http://www.wd8das.net/
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