Hello Ria, Dick, et al -
Ria is correct that telephony by digital means is not data transmission.
What the League's recommendation addressed was only data transmission, not telephony.
The ACDS placement on the bands, bandwidth limitations for DATA and the overall symbol
rate petition was addressing considerations for DATA transmissions. For the reasons Ria
has later explained, the telephony by digital should not be mis-understood to be
considered to be DATA even though it is digital, it is considered radio-telephony or voice.
In fact when using FreeDV SSB operators land on top of FreeDV QSO's inadvertently
since the FreeDV signal sounds like background white noise. I have been using
FreeDV for a number of years and have found the largest problem with the mode
is finding someone with whom to have a QSO. It does work very well and the audio
quality is excellent - all contained in the bandwidth (2.8 kHz) of a normal SSB transmission.
73, Kermit W9XA