[ARC5] OT - FCC Will Soon Consolidate Commercial Radiotelegraph Certificates

[Mike Morrow]

> First Class license holders (Phone or Telegraph) lost nothing except
> the status of having a First Class...

They lose the distinction of:

1.  Telephone - Having qualified at a higher technical level than that required
                of second class holders.
2.  Telegraph - Having at minimum one year's service at the key of a public
                correspondence station.

The value of such distinctions are minimal to non-existent now...but still,
losses they remain.

> An interesting comparison is the Amateur Extra vs Advanced. The Extra now
> only has 5 WPM code credit no matter what level of code was passed.

The generic Extra has not even that...it's been available without any Morse
testing since 2007.  Your analogy with the Advanced Class ham license may be
extended thus even to the Novice Class.  Those are the only two ham license
classes, being legacy licenses which may be maintained but not newly issued,
that could *not* have been obtained without a Morse test.

> Of course, the FCC could have just renewed the First and Second Class
> licenses for lifetime and made the operating privileges the same which
> would have achieved their restructuring goal yet allow the licensees to
> retain credit for their accomplishments.

As I stated, my approach would be to eliminate completely all commercial
radiotelegraph regulation, and allow those with the General Radiotelephone
Operating License (GROL) to operate anything.  The individual operator or
associated organization would bear the responsibility for being able to
competently operate the equipment.  SOLAS (Safety of Life At Sea) functions
are no longer attached to any radiotelegrapher performance.  A similar
approach has worked for 30 years in the broadcast industry.  Its operators
are not even required to hold the GROL.  The responsible company bears
the consequence of improper results.

> If the Report and Order just came out, you First Class licnesees could
> petition the FCC for reconsideration.

I don't have the honor of claiming Radiotelegraph First Class status.  I've
only known one personally who could.  Morse operators on passenger liners,
as well as those at the coast stations with which they communicated, were
about the only people who could meet FCC requirements for First Class.
I have known several Second Class holders (such as my 96-year-old friend
Al/W5KGM) who spent their entire adult careers as commercial Morse operators,
yet could not qualify for First Class because they never worked for at least
one year at stations open to public correspondence.

73,
Mike / KK5F