Hello Mr. Day and Dr. Woolweaver,

I read with interest this article on a proposal from the 'Maritime Radio Historical Society'
to turn 500 KHz into a 'Memorial Frequency'.

http://www.rwonline.com/reference-room/special-report/2006.03.29-07_rwf_500_khz_
2.shtml

While I sympathize with the aims of the Society (my Pop was a Naval CW op in WW2), I think
their purposes could be served at least as well by having a shared allocation between these
historic marine radio projects and the amateur radio service.

I would like to suggest that the ARRL advocate a CW-only, shared allocation in the vicinity
of 500 KHz, with the amateur service as second ary users. Cross-service QSOs between the
historic maritime stations and amateur operators should be allowed in a similar way to the
cross-service contacts that are allowed during the Military-to-Amateur Cross Band
Communications Test that are held each May. 500 KHz should be a "contest-free" zone similar
to the WARC bands.

The population of amateur radio CW enthusiasts would be a natural group from which operators
could be drawn to keep the museum shore stations going long into the future. What amateur
CW operator wouldn't love the opportunity to tap out some dits and dahs at KPH or WCC,
or just have a QSO with these stations?

If 500 KHz is set aside as a "Memorial Frequency", it will fall silent most of the year
except for the MRHS annual "Night of Nights" event.

73
Scott
W5ESE