8m band history

 I was totally unaware of some of the historical allocations at 8m. It seems there are historical precedents.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8-meter_band .

8m beacons

As I have mentioned before, I expect we will see this band (or small part of it) allocated to the amateur service eventually. For several years, I expect certain amateurs in certain countries to apply for limited access, possibly with spot frequencies and low power for limited time e.g. just for the Es season. 

My prediction is that 10 years from now the 8m band will be widely available.

An interesting recent posting on a Facebook page mentioned this is an ISM allocation. The question is there a legal way to get on the band very soon?

There is a new beacon in the west of Eire EI1CAH on 40.016MHz. This is the second Irish beacon. There is also a beacon in Slovenia S55ZMS (40.670MHz) and the South African 8m beacon ZS6WAB (40.675MHz) has been copied in Europe more than once.

A dipole for 40MHz is easy to make.

See https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/p/40-mhz.html .

8m band yagi

Southgate News reports on a 4el yagi for the 8m band.  This band is gradually gaining traction. It would not surprise me if we got a narrow amateur band here in the future.

See http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2020/december/4-element-yagi-for-40-mhz.htm#.X9TMDmiTLrc

8m (40MHz) band

As far as I know, the blog of EI7GL has the best data on the 40MHz (8m) band. This was allocated in Eire some years ago and a few amateurs in Europe have been operating on the band with special permission.

See https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/p/40-mhz.html

8m allocations

John, EI7GL, seems to have the best information on 8m allocations. I have asked John if he is aware of other countries/stations that have been granted access to this interesting band. You may be aware that Eire has granted access and a few other stations in other countries have asked for special permission to carry out tests.

See https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/p/40-mhz.html

New 8m beacon in Eire

Southgate News reports that a new 8m (40MHz) beacon EI1KNH is active in Eire with 20W and a vertical.

See http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2020/may/eight-metre-update.htm#.XrkLc2jYq00

At some point, I can see some further countries gaining limited access to this band.

40MHz (8m)

It is some time since I caught up on who has access to the 8m band (40MHz). Southgate News reports on an FT8 QSO between EI and LY. I did not realise LY had access to the band!

Apparently LY does not have general access and this station had special permission to use certain spot frequencies. Others might like to try for similar access permits.

See http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2020/may/first-contact-made-on-40-mhz-between-ireland-and-lithuania.htm#.XrALqmjYq00

Irish 8m band activity

Although there are a very few beacons operational around 40MHz, very few countries have an amateur band at 8m. I have lobbied the RSGB for a small slot to be negotiated, although, not too surprisingly, nothing has come of this. Being mid way between 10m and 6m it is an ideal band of Es and MS experiments. Even 100kHz and 10W would be useful to advance radio science. OFCOM has managed to find 2MHz for DATV work and I cannot believe they cannot allocate a small slot for serious work around 40MHz! No standard comercial gear is available for this band, so it would only attract serious experimenters, not  "black box" operators. So, the number of people using such a band in the UK would be small.

I quite like the Irish model of allocating wide chunks of under-used spectrum to amateurs. If they were not pen pushers it would be good for OFCOM to allow use of any spectrum on a strictly "non-interference" basis, even if the power was strictly limited. Sadly, I cannot see this happening. It needs people policing this and this costs money rather than generates money! Also, you have to understand RF.  I may be forgiven for thinking few now have this skill.

Meanwhile in Eire, one of the few countries to allocate spectrum at 40MHz to amateurs, work and QSOs continue.

See https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2019/05/inter-ei-activity-begins-on-40-mhz.html

Irish low VHF allocations

Amateurs in Eire have been given generous allocations at low VHF and a bandplan has now been created. This aligns with allocations made in other countries for beacons. It would be great if small allocations at 40MHz could be made across Region 1. Even a small allocation would allow Es research. Will it happen? Yes, if more people press their national bodies. These allocations could be quite small and take-up is likely to be small as no commercial gear is available.

See https://www.irts.ie/cgi/st.cgi?downloads .

More on 40MHz in EI

This came in from John EI7GL:

"Hi Roger

You might be interested in the new proposed 8m and 5m bandplans in EI. This was on the IRTS news today...

Spectrum News

Following a spectrum award by ComReg the entire 4m band (69.9 - 70.5 MHz) is now available to Irish licensees.

At the last IRTS Committee Meeting a sub-committee was convened to develop band plans and propagation beacons for additional spectrum included in the spectrum award.

IRTS is now consulting amateur licensees on two band plans covering 40 - 44 MHz and 54 - 69.9 MHz. More details including draft band plans can be downloaded from the IRTS website, www.irts.ie/downloads

Please send any comments as soon as possible to “newspectrum /at/ irts /dot/ ie” to arrive not later than 30th June 2018.

John, EI7GL"

It would be good to get a small secondary amateur band at 40MHz in the UK and more widely. As commercial gear does not cover this, it would be an ideal band for real Es propagation research. How about OFCOM allocating 50-100kHz at 40MHz to radio amateurs at, say, 10W on a strictly non-interference basis? Silly me, this requires thinking. Silly boy.

Irish VHF spectrum - big allocations

From John's blog comes news of huge chunks of VHF spectrum being made available to EI amateurs. In my view, this is very enlightened.

I guess it would be too much to expect OFCOM to do similar, even with a very low ERP limit and stations operating on a "strictly no interference to primary users" basis. Of course, this would involve OFCOM staff thinking, so no, no, no.  Silly me for even suggesting this! Personally even 100mW at 40MHz would do me. With FT8 or WSPR we could do some serious radio science.

See https://ei7gl.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/irish-radio-amateurs-gain-access-to.html

8m (40MHz band)

Re a small 40MHz allocation to help with Es research, this was on the RSGB forum earlier:

In the ITU Radio Regs, please remember there is no international amateur allocation for 50 MHz in Region-1 (ie Europe, Africa, Middle East). We are very focussed on trying to fix this under WRC-19 Agenda Item 1.1. Our usage (and by other european countries) is effectively a national non-interference one. Only Region-2/3 have formal 50 MHz amateur allocations.

Getting that change for Region-1 you might think ought to straightforward given the spread of 50 MHz national level licenses - but it is most definitely not. It needs agreement from first CEPT (where Russia and France have serious objections) and indeed all 193 ITU Member States. The impact of that on an ordinary amateur is both lower activity and a direct restriction in your UK personal licence. When you are abroad or Maritime Mobile in Region-1 international waters - 50 MHz usage may be barred. If you look on the other thread in this C3 forum, there is a new draft paper on 'Spectrum Prioritisation and Development' which covers the challenge and explains that CEPT/193 issue further.

The recent 5MHz WRC result (and this weeks announcement in GB2RS re no 5MHz future changes) is proof that this is not an easy process. It is not free either - attending the Ofcom/CEPT prep meetings costs RSGB (ie members subs) quite a bit over the four years of that WRC15 cycle, and more in the run up to WRC-19. Smaller amateur radio societies in other countries often cant afford to do that and thus fail to get their governments fully on side.

Returning to 40MHz. Years ago when we and the Danes did our 40 MHz beacons, other IARU Member Socs were formally encouraged to do likewise - nothing happened (not even in South Africa). If other amateurs cant even manage that (let alone convince their governments to have a Tx allocation) - then you can assume its not going to happen very quickly...

We do recognise that some knowledge of propagation at 40MHz is a technical nice to have - but we need to be realistic re an 'allocation'

73

Murray G6JYB

PS. Dont forget members subs also have to go into protecting what we have first, before acquiring more.
PPS. 50 MHz and 70 MHz are in the same boat of course - as they are national and not ITU allocations (A great Question for Advance exams that!)
PPPS. Any future item for WRC-23 will need all those 193 states to approve it at WRC-19 just to even have it added to the agenda
PPPPS. IARU is funded by IARU Member Socs - basically Progress needs Pounds (or Euro or whatever) - ie healthy membership subs for Member Socs

40MHz (8m) Band

Yesterday I heard from LY2YR that there is a small 8m allocation in Slovenia as well as in South Africa.

There is an IARU meeting next year, so please lobby your national society to press for such an allocation! There are already beacons in this band in the UK and Denmark.

Being mid way between 10m and 6m this would be really really useful for Es radio science. Just 50kHz wide would be enough I am sure.This band would not be heavily used (a secondary allocation would be fine even with a low ERP limit), but it would certainly help with "self training" and research. It is a real chance for radio amateurs to lead the way. As no commercial amateur gear covers this frequency, special antennas and rigs would be needed.

See http://www.hamradio.si/images/dokumenti/zakonodaja/splosniakt2013.pdf. Now my language skills are not that good, but I see the Slovenian amateur allocation is 40.66 to 40.7MHz.

More news on South African 8m band (40MHz)

Read it first hand in: www.icasa.org.za/Portals/0/Regulations/Working%20Docmuents/Radio%20Frequency%20Spectrum%20Regulations/RFSR2015.pdf

In South Africa the latest radio regulations permit the use by radio amateurs of 26dBW (400W) on a 10kHz wide band 40.675 - 40.685MHz "for propagation studies only".    Now this is exactly what OFCOM should have done in the interest of real radio-science research.  Personally I think a wider band would be better, but how far sighted to allocate this at all.  Well done S.Africa.

OK, I  could pay £50 for a special research permit, but this is exactly what radio amateurs need for real self training and radio-science research.  The take-up might be small, but real research would take place.

OFCOM/RSGB - how about it please? You have just allocated 2MHz (2 chunks of 1MHz) of spectrum that will be used by just a handful mainly for DTV tests.  How about a much smaller slice somewhere really useful in the radio spectrum? 40MHz is mid-way between 10m and 6m, so ideal for Es tests and TEP tests over the equator.

40MHz amateur band?

Well, I had a letter today from an amateur in South Africa who I hear have been allocated a small band at 40MHz. There are already a couple of EU beacons around 40MHz (OZ and G).

It would be so good if OFCOM here in the UK saw the real value in even a very small, shared band around 40MHz. Instead, we get given chunks (1MHz at 2m and 1MHz at 4m) which will hardly get touched by most. Surely a small 100kHz shared band at 40MHz that would really be of value to radio science has merit?

Of course, allocating ad interim chunks of unused spectrum to the amateur service is a "no-brainer" for dear old OFCOM. Fine doing this, but there would have been far better options, but these would have needed brain engagement, so out of the question? I hope that the RSGB and OFCOM talk some more and add new bits of spectrum soon.

A pity we don't have an 8m (40MHz) band.

An amateur band at 40MHz would be really useful as I suspect the F2 MUF has been in this region several times in the last few years. There are a very few beacons around 40MHz (UK and Denmark only I believe) but wouldn't it be good to have even 100kHz around this frequency? Sadly it is very unlikely, but I would happily lose 100kHz at the top of 10m in exchange.   It would also be a very useful Es band.

Somehow I can't see this happening, more is the pity.  The world of radio science would really benefit. This would have been so much more useful than 146-147MHz recently released to UK amateurs by NoV.  I know a handful of UK amateurs are trying narrowband DTV but the 2m band is mainly Japanese "black boxes" and is mostly white noise in most areas.