<div dir="ltr"><div>I'm not sure which rules you're referring to. Could you please give some citations so we can get things right? My understanding was that the FCC doesn't have<b><i> a</i></b> <b><i>lot </i></b>to say about what modes you can use, unless your license class limits transmitting in that mode (e.g. CW ONLY within certain portions of 40m for Technician class operators), but Extra class operators can use whatever legal mode they want within the band with few restrictions. There is a band plan from the ARRL, which doesn't seem to conflict here either, but even if it did that's a convention, not a law. I mean, I double checked and it Looks like <a href="https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-97/subpart-D/section-97.305">US Code Title 47, Chapter I, Subchapter D, Part 97, Subpart D, § 97.305</a> says digital modes are allowed within at least 7.000 MHz to 7.125MHz which is pretty well within the CW portion (per ARRL band plan) and just below the lower voice (per band plan) portion. Also what might seem "digital" to a naked ear would be image transmissions which are apparently A-OK on 7.125MHz-7.300MHz per that same subsection. CW is allowed everywhere on all bands (only transmitting within your license privilege of course) so I'm not sure which frequencies are CW-exclusive. There may be a convention someone has, but the ARRL Band Chart <a href="https://www.arrl.org/files/file/Regulatory/Band%20Chart/Hambands4_Color_11x8_5.pdf">here</a>, and their webpage on <a href="https://www.arrl.org/frequency-allocations">frequency allocation</a> doesn't seem to say this either. 7.065MHz is pretty low for a digital mode, but I don't think it's against any laws or any other "rules". Of course it's everyone's responsibility to confirm (to the best of your ability) if a frequency is in use before transmitting, and to follow conventions in your region. Common courtesy is always the best course.</div><div><br></div><div>Also checked the VARA HF stations out there in the world, and there a few on 7.065 MHz (and a few just above and below including W0MAC which is ~100km from my QTH):</div><div><br></div><div><img src="cid:ii_mgsz1xus0" alt="image.png" width="440" height="420"></div><div>If they are operating in the "CW-Exclusive" region, their call signs are right there you can reach out to - or report - them.................................................<br></div><div><br></div><div><div><b>AND I did a quick Google Search on "7.065MHz frequency" I found:</b></div><div><ul><li>An <a href="https://nnyarrl.org/emcomm/digital">EMCOMM "FLDigi Net" on <b>7.065MHz</b></a> using " the THOR22 mode" on the Northern New York ARRL Section website. </li><li>Disaster relief transmissions were on <a href="https://www.arrl.org/news/view/amateur-radio-volunteers-in-indonesia-link-earthquake-zone-with-outside-world"><b>7.065MHz </b>in 2018 after the earthquake</a> in Indonesia.</li><li>I saw on the <a href="https://www.k6ldf.com/calling-frequencies-for-all-bands-and-modes/">Lee DeForest Amateur Radio Club website</a> that <b>7.065MHz </b>is used by DXpeditions SSB USA split to 7.150 and above.</li><li>It would appear at least one <a href="https://www.apritch.co.uk/psk_aprs.htm">group in the UK</a> has used <b>7.065MHz</b> USB (PSK) for HF APRS data.</li><li>I'm sure there are more... </li></ul></div></div><div>Back to the question at hand, I don't know of any specific activity on 7.065MHz happening today. I just listened to it on my home station and heard a LSB station testing in Spanish briefly, and a few dits here and there. <b><i>However</i></b>, given the fact that there <b>ARE </b>several VARA HF stations, that may well be what Jay was hearing (go <a href="https://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/VARA_HF">here</a> and click on the audio player on the right side to listen to a sample of a VARA transmission). I hope that helps.</div><div><br></div><div>Thanks and 73!</div><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><p style="color:rgb(34,34,34);margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><font color="#000000" style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:"Times Roman";font-weight:bold;font-size:14pt"><br></span></font></p><p style="color:rgb(34,34,34);margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><font color="#000000" style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:"Times Roman";font-weight:bold;font-size:14pt">Kori Rahman, WX5KR</span></font></p><p style="color:rgb(34,34,34);margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><font color="#000000" style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;font-size:11pt"><font face="arial, sans-serif" style="font-size:small"><b>Houston POTA, </b></font></font><b style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)">President</b></p><p style="color:rgb(34,34,34);margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><font color="#000000" style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;font-size:11pt"><font face="arial, sans-serif" style="font-size:small"><b>Brazos Valley Amateur Radio Club</b></font></font></p><p style="color:rgb(34,34,34);margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><font color="#000000" style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;font-size:11pt"><font face="arial, sans-serif" style="font-size:small"><b>- Vice-President and Club Call Sign KK5W Trustee</b></font></font></p><p style="color:rgb(34,34,34);margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><font color="#000000" style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;font-size:11pt"><font face="arial, sans-serif" style="font-size:small"><b>Cross Roads Ham Radio Club</b></font></font></p><p style="color:rgb(34,34,34);margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><font color="#000000" style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;font-size:11pt"><font face="arial, sans-serif" style="font-size:small"><b>Fort Bend County EMROG</b></font></font></p><p style="color:rgb(34,34,34);margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><font color="#000000" face="arial, sans-serif"><b>District 14 SW Unit ARES</b></font></p><p style="color:rgb(34,34,34);margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><font color="#000000" face="arial, sans-serif"><b>Texas State RACES<br></b></font><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:10pt">Cell: </span><a value="+17702988516" style="color:rgb(17,85,204);font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:10pt">(770) 298 8516</a></p><p style="color:rgb(34,34,34);margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><a href="mailto:Kori113@gmail.com" style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" target="_blank">Kori113@gmail.com</a></span></p><p style="color:rgb(34,34,34);margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><br></p></div></div></div><br></div><br><div class="gmail_quote gmail_quote_container"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Wed, Oct 15, 2025 at 10:33\u202fPM Joseph Benoit <<a href="mailto:wa3nza@gmail.com">wa3nza@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto">Read the rules again. FT8 is a digital mode and can be used anywhere but CW-exclusive segments. DX stations (and their respondents) frequently operate on away fro busy "FT8" frequencies.</div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Wed, Oct 15, 2025, 9:51 PM Kori Rahman via BVARC <<a href="mailto:bvarc@bvarc.org" target="_blank">bvarc@bvarc.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto"><div>FT8 only operates on a single frequency on each band,(some bands like 6m etc have two defaults but only one is usually used). There are alternate frequencies for a version of FT8, called JS8Call but that's limited too</div><div dir="auto"> For 40m FT8 takes place on 7.074MHz USB, and JS8Call is on 7.078 MHz USB).</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">My only guess is that it's one person either with no idea what they're doing, or with insufficient harmonic suppression...</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">All that to say: Are you sure it's FT8? Because a lot of other modes sound similar. Especially FSK modes like RTTY... Anything that uses Frequency shifting. I guess packet is possible too. There are HF Winlink stations all over the spectrum. But mostly the upper portion of CW or lower of voice, in the vicinity of FT8 frequencies. If you have a waterfall display you can compare the signal to those on this website: <a href="https://www.hfunderground.com/wiki/index.php/Signal_Identification" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.hfunderground.com/wiki/index.php/Signal_Identification</a></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Hope that helps! 73!</div><div><br></div><div><br>Kori Rahman, WX5KR<br>Houston POTA, President<br>Brazos Valley Amateur Radio Club<br>- Vice-President and Club Call Sign KK5W Trustee<br>Cross Roads Ham Radio Club<br>Fort Bend County EMROG<br>District 14 SW Unit ARES<br>Texas State RACES<br>Cell: (770) 298 8516<br><a href="mailto:Kori113@gmail.com" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">Kori113@gmail.com</a></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Wed, Oct 15, 2025, 9:18\u202fPM Jay Davidson via BVARC <<a href="mailto:bvarc@bvarc.org" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">bvarc@bvarc.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">Why are people running FT8 right in the middle of CW on 40?<br>
<br>
It\u2019s horrible-overrunning swaths of the band. <br>
<br>
Trying to copy some DX and all I hear under the weak CW tone is someone\u2019s sound card bleeding over. <br>
<br>
7.0650<br>
<br>
I don\u2019t want to hop to FT8 to copy and get their call sign because I\u2019d be just as bad. <br>
<br>
Idk<br>
<br>
73,<br>
KJ5HMX<br>
<br>
<br>
Sent from my iPhone<br>
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