I think the gentlemen's agreement is working fine. Circumstances change all the time and so do the bands. I am looking forward to the day analog TV shuts down and those in VK2,3,4 etc might once again be given full access to 50-52MHz as I enjoy here in vk5. There are a few nitwits and martinets every now and then but I find 99.99% of the ham community to be sensible and polite. Most will QSY if you ask nicely as I will. If you take a look at 40m for example, there are people calling CQ or CQ DX on every frequency from 7.0 to 7.3 MHz in one mode or another. I can just imagine on a competition day, 2000 stations all calling on the same frequency - good luck on anyone getting a contact.
Who is going to be the one to tell the USA they MUST use 50.110 as a calling frequency not 50.125? - Good luck.
In addition, marine and amateur radio have entirely different purposes. On the marine frequencies they make a call, talk about the weather, cargo, icebergs etc. then finish. Amateur Radio is for us to engage in experimentation with radio and discussions about radio and related topics. It is legal for us to talk about other things but the primary purpose is as stated. If you make it mandatory for a couple of stations to call each other on one frequency then QSY to conduct their experiments or conduct a net, that frequency would soon be full.
IF IT AINT BROKE - DON'T FIX IT.
The meaning of DX on 6m
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VK4WDM
Re: The meaning of DX on 6m
Firstly to Dave
There is a standing agreement is to QSY of any calling frequency. Having said that, if the station is a rare one, conditions are bad, and there is a real fear that you might lose contact whilst QSYing (which happened to me with the only KL7 I have ever heard on 6m) , nobody is going to begrudge you having a quick exchange of numbers on the calling frequency.
To Iain. There is a very good reason why we have an international calling frequency and working segment on 6m. Long-haul contacts can be extremely challenging to say the least. They may arrive via a series of "hops" that utilize different modes of propagation. Signals are often very weak, distorted, with heavy QSB, and may only be there for few minutes or so. They simply won't be heard unless the international segment is kept free of strong VK signals.
73
Wayne VK4WDM
There is a standing agreement is to QSY of any calling frequency. Having said that, if the station is a rare one, conditions are bad, and there is a real fear that you might lose contact whilst QSYing (which happened to me with the only KL7 I have ever heard on 6m) , nobody is going to begrudge you having a quick exchange of numbers on the calling frequency.
To Iain. There is a very good reason why we have an international calling frequency and working segment on 6m. Long-haul contacts can be extremely challenging to say the least. They may arrive via a series of "hops" that utilize different modes of propagation. Signals are often very weak, distorted, with heavy QSB, and may only be there for few minutes or so. They simply won't be heard unless the international segment is kept free of strong VK signals.
73
Wayne VK4WDM