[BCVHFA] Fwd: ARLB007 No Code-Free Upgrades Available Until February 23

[K8CM]

 From ARRL Headquarters
>Newington CT  February 7, 2007
>To all radio amateurs
>
>SB QST ARL ARLB007
>ARLB007 No Code-Free Upgrades Available Until February 23
>
>Code-free upgrades to General or Amateur Extra will not be available 
>at volunteer examination sessions until the 5 WPM Morse code 
>requirement disappears from the FCC's Amateur Radio Service rules on 
>February 23. ARRL Regulatory Information Specialist Dan Henderson, 
>N1ND, says that, judging from the questions he's been getting, many 
>in the amateur community -- including some Volunteer Examiners (VEs) 
>-- don't fully understand the new rules that resulted from the FCC's 
>Report and Order (R&O) in the ''Morse code proceeding,'' WT Docket 
>05-235. He stresses that VE teams may not accept upgrade 
>applications in advance of February 23, then hold the paperwork.
>
>''There will be no instant midnight upgrades February 23 for 
>applicants advancing to General or Amateur Extra,'' Henderson 
>explains. ''You must make application.'' He further advises that a 
>Certificate of Successful Completion of Examination (CSCE) valid for 
>Element 3 (General) or Element 4 (Amateur Extra) credit does not 
>confer any operating privileges and, lacking Morse code credit, is 
>no good for an upgrade until the new rules become effective.
>
>''Anyone holding or earning a valid CSCE for element credit must 
>wait until February 23 to redeem it at a volunteer examination 
>session,'' he says. ''You may not operate as /AG or /AE until you 
>have upgraded and have been issued a CSCE marked for upgrade.'' A 
>CSCE is good for 365 days from the date of issuance, no exceptions.
>
>Henderson further emphasizes that those who qualified as Technician 
>licensees under the examination regime in place from March 21, 1987, 
>until April 15, 2000, do not get General class Element 3 credit on 
>that basis. That's because the ''old'' Element 3 is not the same as 
>the current Element 3.
>
>Applicants upgrading at a test session on or after February 23 on 
>the basis of a valid CSCE must present the certificate for element 
>credit, fill out an application and pay any applicable exam session 
>fee, which most VECs charge. Between now and then, Henderson points 
>out, upgrade applicants still have the option of passing the 5 WPM 
>Element 1 Morse code test in addition to the General or Amateur 
>Extra written tests.
>
>Technician licensees who have not passed a Morse code examination 
>automatically gain new privileges on February 23 without having to 
>apply at an exam session.
>
>The ARRL has posted all relevant information on these important Part 
>97 rule revisions on its ''FCC's Morse Code Report and Order WT 
>Docket 05-235'' Web page, www.arrl.org/fcc/morse/.
>NNNN
>/EX