JA band plan and VK 52 MHZ

[VK3ZAZ]

FYI
This came in my JA new licence

http://www.jarl.or.jp/English/

52-52.3MHz is now for VoIP (2009-).
This segment had been reserved to QSO with VKs for 50? years,
so many DXers still do not know this change
and believe they can still use this segment for DXing.
RTTY had been restricted to 50.9-51.0MHz during 1992-2009.

are all those rtty qsos on 50 low end are illegal and invalid

2 cents

[VK8VTX]

hello and thank you for pointing this out

and for my 2 cents, i would say this. somewhere in the world every frequency is allocated to something or someone and we
would be forever qsying in a panic worried that we are qrming someone or some country. i guess this is why we have band plans.

now, given that standard calls only have 52 to 54 mhz and it was well decided before i was alive that 52.100 and thereabouts
is for ssb voice and just about all of 52 to 54 is taken up and allocated to repeaters and fm simplex work.

it maybe in the JA band plan, but i don't live in japan do i? i live in VK and subject to the vk band plan.
sure i am respectful enough to qsy if i was coursing interference to a voip in japan. however because i spend a large
amount of time on and around 52mhz beaming JA, i have never heard yet any voip or repeater (or anything) on 52mhz
and so i have no problem with cqing there. i recently had a JA contact with thanks to vklogger. i was spotted by a ja
station on 52.1 and asked me to go to 52.3 and it fits into his JA band plan. it's this on air cooperation and understanding
makes amateur radio work.

it's already insanely hard to get anyone on 52mhz and especially real dx from overseas\, so lets not make it harder and more
confusing by changing the aussie band plan to suite others, unless of course your willing go all the way and make a real international
ssb call frequency somewhere in 52mhz and stick to it

73's
Joe
VK8VTX

[JE7IDA]

Steve I am sorry I should have write also about JA RTTY DX/EME segments.

The JA bandplan had been 'a Gentlemen's agreement',
but in 1980s and 1990s
2m and 70cm in JA1-3 had been almost occupied
by huge number of unlicensed/unid stations in F3E,
so in 1992 the bandplan became a law
(a notification from the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications /
now the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications).

JA 6m RTTY bandplans:

**1992**
50.0-50.1MHz DX QSO only
50.9-51.0MHz any QSO
52.7-54.0MHz any QSO

**1997**
50.0-50.1MHz DX QSO only
50.9-51.0MHz any QSO
52.9-54.0MHz any QSO

**2004**
50.0-50.1MHz DX QSO or EME only
50.9-51.0MHz any QSO
52.9-54.0MHz any QSO

**2009**
50.0-50.1MHz DX QSO or EME only
50.1-50.3MHz EME only
50.3-51.0MHz any QSO --- extended!
52.9-54.0MHz any QSO

During 1992-2009, most JCC/JCG expedition stations
called SSB/AM/CW CQ around 50.200MHz,
and had to announce 'I will go to 50.9xxMHz RTTY now'.
Some people bought a wideband yagi for 50.9MHz.

When JA3 opens I can still hear many unlicensed stations
talking from their automobiles mainly in 50.9-54MHz.
They are good beacons for me.

Although 52-52.5MHz had been assigned to CW/SSB/AM/FAX/SSTV etc
(but no RTTY, digi) for VK QSO from ancient days,
52.0-52.3MHz had been changed to VoIP in 2009.
Recently JARL asked our opinion for the next renewal of the bandplan.
I wrote many opinion for VUHF including
-52.0-52.2MHz should be assigned to NB modes for VK/ZL, 52.2-52.5MHz VoIP
-or at least 52.1-52.15MHz should be reserved for several years
but no hope.
Note that JA can still use 51MHz for ZL (but RTTY is not allowed).

----
JE7IDA (QM09nr) Kuni

[JE7IDA]

Of course wideband RTTY (AFSK over F3E transmitters) are assigned in different segments.

[VK5PJ]

Hello Joe

hello and thank you for pointing this out

it's already insanely hard to get anyone on 52mhz and especially real dx from overseas\, so lets not make it harder and more
confusing by changing the aussie band plan to suite others, unless of course your willing go all the way and make a real international
ssb call frequency somewhere in 52mhz and stick to it

73's
Joe
VK8VTX

There is nothing official about band plans in Australia, they are not issued or enforced by our licensing authority, yet many hams in VK behave like it is law.

When reading the JA band plan it states in a number of the sub notes that JA stations are exempt from many of the restrictions when communicating with stations outside of JA, so as per usual the devil is in the details and originator of this thread did not pay attention to the devil.

Regards,
Peter, vk5pj

[VK3MEG]

my 2 element 6n yagi is still taking up space on my tower. unlike you vk8vtx i've all but given up on 6m I'll stick with 10m thats frustrating enough

[VK4WDM]

it's already insanely hard to get anyone on 52mhz

What I find odd is that when 6m is open I always call CQ on 52.1MHZ as well as on 50.110 and 50.2 but very seldom get a reply on 52.1.

For example, last E season I worked plenty of stations on 50 from all over VK, but only one on 52, and I never heard a single CQ either (and yes, my antenna does tune OK up there).

Does this mean that there are really very few STD calls looking for contacts, or is the propagation very different between the two segments?

If anyone sees me on the logger and wants to try 52MHZ let me know, I will be pleased to try and give you a contact!

73

Wayne VK4WDM

[VK8VTX]

yes ok Wayne all noted. well i know you and some others are on 52mhz and that's great, but i guess your in the minority. but what i am really getting at
is international DX on 52mhz as well as national, why is it almost every night of the week i have 49ers at +20db and 50.110 going off with both JA
and other counties there but 52mhz....dead> it can't be that the skip drops out after 50mhz because i have 55ers coming in too.

i noted the comment from VK3MEG and i would agree with him wholeheartedly except that i have always been interested in the band between
20mhz to 100mhz and especially 30 to 50mhz even before i every looked at getting a ham call and so this part of the band is my life as it were.

i just find it unbelievable that 52 to 54 is called "Primary" and few are there and 50 to 52 is "secondary" but yet is given the royal treatment?

now have heard it all before, "if you don't like it ...upgrade" but my point is that it don't solve the problem that 6m has with under use in every other
place but 50 to 50.300mhz. what i want to see is an international DX window somewhere on 52mhz, that complies with the VK,JA band plan and is
monitored the same as 50.110. am i dreaming you think??? i know looking at 50.200, you guys have problems even there to get people to listen
to it lol and so it's not likely. but we need to really take a fresh approach to this and take it out of the hand of 6m elitists that see things as narrowly
as their antennas that they use


73's
Joe

VK8VTX

[VK4WDM]

6m elitists that see things as narrowly as their antennas that they use

I don't think having high-gain narrow-band beams for 6m is being elitist Joe! Apart from TEP into Asia, and some big openings into the rest of the world during times of high sunspot activity, all 6m DX is going to be weak-signal, fluttery, multi-hop extended Es, and to have any hope at all of working it you need to squeeze every Db of gain out of your antenna. Calling that elitist is like saying that EME ops are elitist because of their high-gain narrow-band antennas! As I have said before, show me a wide-band antenna that has the same efficiency as my 7 el optimised for 50.110MHZ and I will build it

Having said that, most internal ATU's will allow antennas to operate at 52MHZ, or you can use another antenna such as a vertical or even a dipole for that segment.

The present band plan was devised by the IARU and adopted by member societies to cope with the expected huge increase in international contacts expected in the previous two SS cycle peaks. Those conditions are unlikley to repeated for many long years so the bandplan needs to be revised.

I don't think that an international calling frequency on 52MHZ would work, it really does not work now on 50.110. I would suggest that you contact JAs seen on the logger and ask them if they can fire up on 52.1.

My opinion is that we need to promote as much activity as possible on 6m and the STD calls should have access to the whole band.

Hope to work you in the coming months.

73

Wayne VK4WDM

[VK3ZAZ]

VK 6 metre band plan

http://www.wia.org.au/members/bandplans ... 130121.pdf


The 6 metre band plan has been reworded to clarify ACMA operating restrictions between 50 and 52 MHz.


Nothing new


New APRS Channels

Two recommended channels for APRS operation:
6 metres - 53.050 MHz.
And for now its all we have, pending rewriting the lic rules following analog switch off.


if you dont agree with the band plans contact the WIA, they are the ones creditted with the running of ham radio as we know it in Australia.
IARU Region I: click this Link to the IARU Region I web site.
IARU Region II: click this link>http://www.iaru-r2.org/band-plan/>Link for details of the Region II MF and HF band plans.
IARU Region III: click this Link for Region III band plan information.
New Zealand: click this Link for band plan information from the NZART.
Japan: click this Link for information on band plans in Japan.


Files For Download
Latest version of the band plans - 21 January 2013
Australian Band Plans 130121.pdf

Report on proposed new 2 metre digital repeater plan
WIA TAC 2 Metre Band Plan Revision 2012.pdf

[VK2ZIW]

Yagi antennae, just DON'T work over the range 49.5 to 52.5 MHz.

I've been modelling with 4nec2 and, over the range 49.5 to 50.5 MHz, one does well. SWR < 2:1

Extend the range to 49.5 to 52.5 MHz and the SWR at 52.2 would be 5:1 or more.

To get the F/B (Front to Back) to be decent over this range, I found the ZL Special feed was helpful.
I also found, including a transmission line matching section, broadened the SWR curve.
( paralleled coax eg. 50 || 50 = 25, 75 || 75 = 35 ) modelled easily and WORKED in practice also.
See www.unixservice.com.au/hamradio/antenna/

2C39s - Alan VK2ZIW

[VK4NWH]

In the next week or so ill be on 52 mhz with a 4 element yagi calling regularly on 52.100 so anyone looking for a contact on 52 mhz ill be there often and hopefully more will join me. Cheers Wayne VK4NWH.

[VK4WDM]

Hi Wayne

I regularly monitor, and call CQ on 52.1MHZ using my vertical which works very well on 52MHZ but I very rarely get any contacts. Maybe it is because very few standard calls are on 6m, butI also believe that the propagation is often different on 52MHZ and just because the band is open on 50MHZ it does not mean that the opening extends up to 52MHZ. It would be really good if some experiments could be done to check that out.

"Short skip" contacts between Brisbane and Townsville are quite rare so we may not meet on the band, but good luck anyway

73

Wayne VK4WDM (we should start a "Wayne Net - there are enough of us )

[VK4WDM]

Alan VK2ZIW wrote:

Yagi antennae, just DON'T work over the range 49.5 to 52.5 MHz.

Hi Alan, this is not understood by those who are urging us who operate on the bottom end of the band, to stop being snobs and talk to the standard calls who are limited to 52MHZ. With the standard yagi designs for 6m you can either have high gain or wide bandwidth but not both. My 7 element YU7EF is optimised for 50.110MHZ and the transceiver will shut down because of the high SWR if I attempt to use it at 52MHZ. OK, I can press the internal tuner butter and that makes the transceiver happy, but it does very little to increase the radiating efficiency of the antenna itself.

Using a folded dipole will increase BW and some of the loop-fed designs have a wider BW than a dipole feed, but I must admit the material you supplied on the use of a "ZL Special" on VHF was an eye opener I was originally a ZL and familiar with the use of that design on HF, but I have never thought of using it at higher frequency - very thought provoking indeed

73

Wayne VK4WDM

[VK2HRX]

Perhaps work split? I have used this technique successfully in contests to get around the 50 MHz antenna not being compatible with operation on 52MHz.

[VK4WDM]

Hi Compton

Yes split does work ok but hopefully the new LCD will allow std licences to use the whole band.

73

Wayne VK4WDM