[ARRL-OK] ARLB003 FCC noncommittal on "Morse code" proceeding

[D C (Mac) Macdonald]

Subject: ARLB003 FCC noncommittal on "Morse code" proceeding
Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2006 17:25:47 -0500
To: k2gkk at juno.com
From: "ARRL Web site" <memberlist at www.arrl.org>

SB QST @ ARL $ARLB003
ARLB003 FCC noncommittal on "Morse code" proceeding

ZCZC AG03
QST de W1AW  
ARRL Bulletin 3  ARLB003
>From ARRL Headquarters  
Newington CT  February 14, 2006
To all radio amateurs 

SB QST ARL ARLB003
ARLB003 FCC noncommittal on ''Morse code'' proceeding

Just when the FCC will act on the ''Morse code'' proceeding,
WT Docket 05-235, remains hazy. The Commission released a
Noticeof Proposed Rule Making and Order (NPRM&O) last July
proposing o eliminate the Element 1 (5 WPM) Morse code
requirement for all license classes.

The Amateur Radio community filed more than 3800 comments on
the proceeding, and additional comments continue to show up,
even though the formal comment deadline was last fall.  The
next--and most-anticipated--step for the Commission is to
formally adopt any revisions to its rules and conclude the
proceeding with a Report and Order (R&O) that spells out the
changes and specifies their effective date.

"There really is no news," an FCC Wireless Telecommunications
Bureau (WTB) staffer told ARRL this week on background.  "We
certainly hope to release WT Docket 05-235 sometime this year,
but we're not making any predictions at this time."  The WTB
staffer indicated there would be no "big announcements" at the
Dayton Hamvention FCC Forum either.

Beyond eliminating the Morse requirement, the FCC declined in
its NPRM&O to go forward with any other suggested changes to
Amateur Service licensing rules or operating privileges.

The proceeding began with 18 petitions for rule making--many
just calling for the elimination of the Morse requirement but
some asking for more far-reaching changes in the Amateur Service
rules.  The various petitions attracted a total of some 6200
comments.  The FCC subsequently consolidated the petitions--
including one from the ARRL asking the FCC to establish a new
entry-level license class and to retain the Morse requirement
for Amateur Extra class applicants--into a single proceeding
designated WT 05-235.

Worth noting is that the FCC did not propose in WT 05-235 to
extend HF privileges to current Technician licensees who have
not passed a Morse code examination.  In its NPRM&O the FCC
suggested that in a no-Morse-requirement regime, such "codeless
Techs" would be able to gain HF access by taking the Element 3
General class written examination.

Before it releases an R&O on the Morse code proceeding, however,
the WTB wants to wrap up action in another Amateur Radio-related
docket--the "Phone Band Expansion" (or "Omnibus") NPRM in WT
Docket 04-140, released last April 15.  A dozen petitions for
rulemaking, some dating back to 2001, were consolidated in the
Omnibus proceeding.  In that NPRM, the Commission proposed to go
along with the ARRL's Novice refarming plan aimed at reallocating
the current Novice/Tech Plus subbands to expand portions of the 80,
40 and 15 meter phone bands.  The FCC also agreed with an ARRL
proposal to extend privileges in the current General CW-only HF
subbands to present Novice and Tech Plus licensees (or Technicians
with Element 1 credit).

Any FCC decision to eliminate the 5 WPM Morse code requirement for
HF access would have no impact on either the current HF CW-only
subbands or on the CW privileges of Amateur Radio licensees.  The
Morse code proceeding neither put forward nor recommended any
changes in CW allocations or privileges.

NNNN
/EX