Nigel - ITU Region 2 includes all of what geographers call the western hemishpere, including South America. As you surmise, the US has about 3/4 of the hams in Region 2. Region 2 has about a third of the World's hams.

I suspect that several thousand 220 MHz multimode rigs could be sold, enough to recoup development costs and have a bit left over for profit. If an existing platform were used as a basis for the rig, or 220 MHz incorporated into other VHF/UHF multimode rigs development costs would be low.

US Ham gear manufacturers Elecraft and DEMI both make 222MHz transverters and in Elecraft's case they integrate nicely with the K2 to provide what nearly transparent operation controlled by the K2. They still are separate boxes though.

The US manufacturers are victims of the return on investment paradigm embraced by many modern companies. They have limited resources and those resources are used to address the big markets, high performance do everything HF transceivers and smart HF linears. The development funds never make it down to the demand for secondary ham markets like VHF/UHF multi mode rigs, nor to tertiary or niche markets like 220 MHz.

The trend towards putting lots of functions into firmware that can be revised also drains resources away from development resources for the secondary markets. The Ten-Tec 6N2, a nice duo band rig, was dropped by Ten-Tec when resources were diverted to support the Orion, even though the 6N2 was well thought of by hams and sold reasonably well. With this happening to a reasonably popular rig, imagine the difficulty in getting development of a 220 MHz rig started. The 6N2 was leveraged from the Argonaut.

The 222 MHz band suffers in the USA from an uncertain future and has for the last 25 or 30 years. This uncertainty has limited interest in the band, both by potential users and by potential manufacturers. It enjoyed a brief stint of popularity in the late 70s as a refuge from the crowded 144 MHz band during the FM explosion of the 70s. A number of companies dipped their toe into the 1.25 M waters including Vibroplex and Sears Roebuck. Then UPS made a proposal to the FCC to take the band for a communication, location, and tracking service. This pretty much stopped any manufacturer interest in producing 220 MHz equipment. And that slowed interest in the band by hams. The FCC finally gave UPS the bottom 2 MHz of the band and they promptly abandoned any plan for it. People are atill unusre of what the future holds for the band.

Not all Americans that reside in the USA are the jingoistic egotists you imagine. Most are not. The current low exchange rate has made that painfully clear to most of us, as have rising energy costs. We live in a global economy. In the long run, that benefits everybody. I would like a 220 MHz multimode rig. I don't care where it comes from. I realize that most of the World's hams, including you, could care less about this. I don't have a problem with this. The rise of Japanese radio manufacturers was a contributing cause of the demise of ham radio manufacturing in this country. Some of us would like them to realize that they have most of the ham radio market here and that providing a rig that provides 220 MHz capabilities for an area in which they dominate the market is not too much to ask. They could probably make a buck or two on the deal in the meantime. - Duffey

-- KK6MC James Duffey Cedar Crest NM

The 220 spectrum management group here in SoCal has it listed as point-to-point, 100kHz spacing. http://www.220sma.org/bandplan.htm 73, Jim

--- Tyler Harpster tyler881@comcast.net wrote:

So what is this rumored spectrum from 219 to 220 that I see every once in a while? I think I saw that it's for data link use only? Does anyone use that 1 MHz worth of spectrum?

Tyler KM3G

---

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This discussion makes me want to begin production of a VHF/UHF muti-mode SDR with dual Rx and plenty of access for addition of modems into wide-band circuits...i.e one that incorporates all our "wish lists". I wonder if the Gates Foundation has any grant money for a poor dillussionary ham wannabee entrepreneur? Ha ;-)

KL7UW

At 07:03 AM 3/15/2008, James Duffey wrote:

Nigel - ITU Region 2 includes all of what geographers call the western hemishpere, including South America. As you surmise, the US has about 3/4 of the hams in Region 2. Region 2 has about a third of the World's hams.

I suspect that several thousand 220 MHz multimode rigs could be sold, enough to recoup development costs and have a bit left over for profit. If an existing platform were used as a basis for the rig, or 220 MHz incorporated into other VHF/UHF multimode rigs development costs would be low.

US Ham gear manufacturers Elecraft and DEMI both make 222MHz transverters and in Elecraft's case they integrate nicely with the K2 to provide what nearly transparent operation controlled by the K2. They still are separate boxes though.

The US manufacturers are victims of the return on investment paradigm embraced by many modern companies. They have limited resources and those resources are used to address the big markets, high performance do everything HF transceivers and smart HF linears. The development funds never make it down to the demand for secondary ham markets like VHF/UHF multi mode rigs, nor to tertiary or niche markets like 220 MHz.

The trend towards putting lots of functions into firmware that can be revised also drains resources away from development resources for the secondary markets. The Ten-Tec 6N2, a nice duo band rig, was dropped by Ten-Tec when resources were diverted to support the Orion, even though the 6N2 was well thought of by hams and sold reasonably well. With this happening to a reasonably popular rig, imagine the difficulty in getting development of a 220 MHz rig started. The 6N2 was leveraged from the Argonaut.

The 222 MHz band suffers in the USA from an uncertain future and has for the last 25 or 30 years. This uncertainty has limited interest in the band, both by potential users and by potential manufacturers. It enjoyed a brief stint of popularity in the late 70s as a refuge from the crowded 144 MHz band during the FM explosion of the 70s. A number of companies dipped their toe into the 1.25 M waters including Vibroplex and Sears Roebuck. Then UPS made a proposal to the FCC to take the band for a communication, location, and tracking service. This pretty much stopped any manufacturer interest in producing 220 MHz equipment. And that slowed interest in the band by hams. The FCC finally gave UPS the bottom 2 MHz of the band and they promptly abandoned any plan for it. People are atill unusre of what the future holds for the band.

Not all Americans that reside in the USA are the jingoistic egotists you imagine. Most are not. The current low exchange rate has made that painfully clear to most of us, as have rising energy costs. We live in a global economy. In the long run, that benefits everybody. I would like a 220 MHz multimode rig. I don't care where it comes from. I realize that most of the World's hams, including you, could care less about this. I don't have a problem with this. The rise of Japanese radio manufacturers was a contributing cause of the demise of ham radio manufacturing in this country. Some of us would like them to realize that they have most of the ham radio market here and that providing a rig that provides 220 MHz capabilities for an area in which they dominate the market is not too much to ask. They could probably make a buck or two on the deal in the meantime. - Duffey

-- KK6MC James Duffey Cedar Crest NM

---

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***************************************************** 73, Ed - KL7UW BP40iq, 6m - 3cm 144-EME: FT-847, mgf-1801, 4x-xp20, 185w http://www.kl7uw.com AK VHF-Up Group NA Rep. for DUBUS: dubususa@hotmail.com *****************************************************

At 01:07 AM 3/16/2008, Trevor wrote:

Over 40 DXCC countries have an Amateur band at 70 MHz but that suffers from the same lack of commercial rigs as 220 in the states.

I feel that unless an Amateur band is available globally it's just not going to be worth any manufacturer producing rigs for it. So it'll be up to Amateurs to design and build their own rigs for their "local" bands.

73 Trevor M5AKA

Which was brought home for me when I recently bought the MFJ-269 Antenna Analyzer: covers 1.8-170; 415-470 MHz which nicely skips the 222-MHz band. Oh well it will be quite useful for the frequencies it does cover.

***************************************************** 73, Ed - KL7UW BP40iq, 6m - 3cm 144-EME: FT-847, mgf-1801, 4x-xp20, 185w http://www.kl7uw.com AK VHF-Up Group NA Rep. for DUBUS: dubususa@hotmail.com *****************************************************

Perhaps instead of a plug-in cage, snap on external modules that would stack on the bottom; use a daisy chain control cable between each module and individual RF connectors for antenna? That way one could modify the radio to personal requirements and not have "extra stuff" hanging on. Basically this is a packaging issue.

At 02:14 AM 3/15/2008, you wrote:

Nate Duehr wrote:

...

I think what you meant to say is... "only little old ITU Region 2 has that band". Canada, Mexico... etc...

I guess so but I would suspect that the USA has the majority of the amateurs in Region 2. I suppose my gripe is that too many Americans appear to believe that the USA is the centre of the universe and the rest of the world should cater for their needs. If there really is demand for a VHF/UHF multimode satellite capable radio with 220 and 1296 then there are several American manufacturers (TenTec, Elecraft for example) perfectly capable of the task. They obviously don't see it as a viable product.

...

Yeah, yeah... so they can build modules for the bands you guys have that WE don't, too. (GRIN)

Band modules are a great idea. It's a pity more rigs don't come with bays for plug in transverters but it leads to a larger chassis that many wouldn't need or be prepared to pay for. Tektronix have made 'scopes for centuries with plug in modules so it's hardly a new idea. The Ft-736 had transverters but it needs to be a front panel plug in to allow for easy selection of facilities.

-- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Nigel A. Gunn. 59 Beadlemead, Milton Keynes, MK6 4HF, England. Tel +44 (0)1908 604004 mobile +44 (0)7951079089 e-mail nigel@ngunn.net www http://www.ngunn.net Amateur radio stations G8IFF, KC8NHF Member of ARRL, GQRP #11396, QRPARCI #11644, SOC #548, Flying Pig #385, Dayton ARA #2128, AMSAT-NA LM-1691, MKARS, RAYNET <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

---

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***************************************************** 73, Ed - KL7UW BP40iq, 6m - 3cm 144-EME: FT-847, mgf-1801, 4x-xp20, 185w http://www.kl7uw.com AK VHF-Up Group NA Rep. for DUBUS: dubususa@hotmail.com *****************************************************