WRMI move from 6915 to 6855 due to complaints from MARS

[ChrisSmolinski]

This morning, I noticed WRMI had moved their 24/7 Brother Stair transmission from 6915 to 6855. I asked Glenn Hauser what he knew about it, and here is his reply, emphasis mine:

Then here`s the scoop from Jeff White as of 1455 UT May 3:

Glenn: 6915 has been replaced with 6855 because of US Army interference complaint.

The MARS guys did not like the competition. Might be a useful piece of information for stations considering any operations in or near that part of the spectrum. They politely asked WRMI to move, I suspect any complaints about pirate operations will be directed through the FCC.

[EliteData]

i didnt think WRMI would last very long at 6915 though i remember that i have heard MARS around 6800-6900 at some point late last year.
i got my money on WRMI not lasting very long at 6855 either.

[ChrisSmolinski]

I recall when WRMI first appeared on 6915, someone asked Jeff White why they chose 6915, and his answer was that is the frequency the FCC assigned them. Very strange.

[redhat]

I recall when WRMI first appeared on 6915, someone asked Jeff White why they chose 6915, and his answer was that is the frequency the FCC assigned them. Very strange.

Especially because the FCC does not assign SW licenses, the NTIA does.

Still about four years ago there was a station on 6885 that ran brokered programming.  I wonder why they decided to move?

+-RH

[Pigmeat]

Galei Zahal was still using 6885 at that time, Redhat. The Tennessee- Georgia Moving Bible Thumpers decided to do some testing there. They were throwing spurs 40 plus kHz wide on either side of 6885 up the eastern half of NA running 500 kW into the rhombic supposedly aimed at Europe.

I remember hearing what I thought were weak ssb pirates on 6925 for weeks. I finally got clear audio one night. It was the spur of good ol' Brother Ralph tearing Satan a new one on 6885.

[ka1iic]

I might be wrong but didn't WRMI use 6915khz 15 years ago or so?  Anyway I don't understand why they would even consider operations down in the part of the band... It's almost like a 'graveyard' assignment in the broadcast band.

With the conditions of late I haven't heard WRMI above the noise level (vertical or horizontal) here and I wonder where they are broadcasting to... perhaps the western areas?  Even then its a waste of kilowatts in my opinion. But Bro. Stair(knutcase) has plenty of money from all the 'lost' folks of his 'flock'.

As for MARS... I suspect they have more power to get things done these days because of the changes after 911.  I may be wrong but it seems to me it goes like this;  MARS <> FEMA <> HLS. MARS does NOT deal with the FCC, they have to go with the 'chain of command'.  I had to leave the program for personal reasons awhile after the changes were made solid so I could be wrong.

If I am on chat and I hear MARS operations I generally make their active frequency known but I only seem to hear stations in the 3rd and 4th zones.  As most of you know they generally operate on frequencies such as; 6905.5khz, 6910.5khz, 6915.5khz, 6925.5khz... all the way up to 6995.5khz USB, but this is not absolute.  Lately I have heard a very strong data signal around 6950.5 +/- but I don't think that is a MARS station perhaps a FEMA station or something of that nature.  FEMA has HF nets also and there are some cross operations such as MARS on FEMA nets etc.  'Command' stations may show up on any net at anytime.

Every net has a secondary net frequency which can also be used depending on the real time situation.

One important point I would like to make is this,  do not assume that any SSB signal you might hear is a 'peskie'... listen to make sure what is where, I am sure everyone knows this but I feel it is worth repeating here.  I seldom 'log' MARS or FEMA nets in my paper or electronic log book so I can't give you a list of active frequencies.  My amateur contacts go in the paper log and the 'oddities' such as 'spy' stations (so called) go in the electronic log.

This information, for what it is worth, is given simply to let you know how I deal with certain things at my station.  I have no insider information... what do I know?  I am only JAFO.

NNNN


  

[MDK2]

I might be wrong but didn't WRMI use 6915khz 15 years ago or so?  Anyway I don't understand why they would even consider operations down in the part of the band... It's almost like a 'graveyard' assignment in the broadcast band.

With the conditions of late I haven't heard WRMI above the noise level (vertical or horizontal) here and I wonder where they are broadcasting to... perhaps the western areas?  Even then its a waste of kilowatts in my opinion. But Bro. Stair(knutcase) has plenty of money from all the 'lost' folks of his 'flock'.

I can't speak for every transmission frequency WMRI uses, but 6915 was always weak here in Denver and this new 6855 one isn't any better. Their broadcasts in 60, 49, and 25m OTOH come booming in. (31m, not so much.)

[ChrisSmolinski]

I might be wrong but didn't WRMI use 6915khz 15 years ago or so?  Anyway I don't understand why they would even consider operations down in the part of the band... It's almost like a 'graveyard' assignment in the broadcast band.

With the conditions of late I haven't heard WRMI above the noise level (vertical or horizontal) here and I wonder where they are broadcasting to... perhaps the western areas?  Even then its a waste of kilowatts in my opinion. But Bro. Stair(knutcase) has plenty of money from all the 'lost' folks of his 'flock'.

I can't speak for every transmission frequency WMRI uses, but 6915 was always weak here in Denver and this new 6885 one isn't any better. Their broadcasts in 60, 49, and 25m OTOH come booming in. (31m, not so much.)

Their official target area is Mexico: http://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,27960.0.html

[redhat]

This is unfortunate, I guess I'll have to cross 6875 off my op list too

+-RH

[Rafman]

I was the one who called WRMI the night it appeared on 6915. He was a bit surprised we found it within 30 minutes of going on air & a day before it was "official" in their web schedule.

He explained they applied for a 24/7 freq to beam toward San Diego [285 degs] & that's what they were handed by the FCC... I agree it's NTIA turf but that never stopped the FeeCee before...

6915 was hammered by UTEs & a few "protesters" [latter in the beginning]... Seems to me it's a HUGE waste when band shortens up during the day but it is what it is... 

Next stop for WRMI might be ?6770?  <-- Catch my drift?

Rafman

[ka1iic]

I was the one who called WRMI the night it appeared on 6915. He was a bit surprised we found it within 30 minutes of going on air & a day before it was "official" in their web schedule.

He explained they applied for a 24/7 freq to beam toward San Diego [285 degs] & that's what they were handed by the FCC... I agree it's NTIA turf but that never stopped the FeeCee before...

6915 was hammered by UTEs & a few "protesters" [latter in the beginning]... Seems to me it's a HUGE waste when band shortens up during the day but it is what it is... 

Next stop for WRMI might be ?6770?  <-- Catch my drift?

Rafman

San Diego aka Saint Didacus... might as well be Mexico... IMHO

Thanks for all the info folks... But I get a feeling there is more to all this once we scratch below the surface...  Just saying but what do I know I am JAFO 

[Josh]

I've often heard various 80m MARS nets moved to the 69XX range for comms checks and passing some 110A so that might splain some of the digital traffic noted, 110A seems to be more common in MARS every day. Back around 2000 when I was in NAVY MARS we had a pactor system listening 24/7 around 48XX that was great untill the foreign broadcast started in, then you were wiped out.
I always wanted to be able to move that broadcaster but who knew the fcc would step like that at the behest of MARS.

[ka1iic]

Josh... I remember back in the day when I was operating Army MARS and one net we had was on 4030 khz or so and the evening net on that frequency got clobbered by a broadcast from Cuba.  We could complain about it but we knew nothing could be done because it was a Spanish Lady reading off 5 number groups ;-)  Oh the fun we had in the day... <heh>

[Pigmeat]

There's a FEMA hurricane net for the Southeast that operates around 6917. They set up in April to be ready to go by May. My guess is they're the ones behind WRMI getting the boot from 6915. The hurricane net has been there for at least 20 years, if not more.

[ChrisSmolinski]

Josh... I remember back in the day when I was operating Army MARS and one net we had was on 4030 khz or so and the evening net on that frequency got clobbered by a broadcast from Cuba.  We could complain about it but we knew nothing could be done because it was a Spanish Lady reading off 5 number groups ;-)  Oh the fun we had in the day... <heh>

I remember hearing the conflict as well, although from my point of view, it was the MARS net QRMing the Cuban spy station I was trying to listen to