[ham] [CW] Morse code element

[KD5NWA]

It was quoted and argued about until everyone got sick of it.

On Sun, 27 Jul 2003 10:09:35 -0700 (PDT), Kathy Stanfill <ks6cw@yahoo.com> 
wrote:

> Hi Gang,
> Are you all ready for the last battle? (READ BELOW)
> 73 de Kathy KS6CW
> ==>WHAT TO DO ABOUT THE MORSE REQUIREMENT POST-WRC-03?
>
> World Radiocommunication Conference 2003 (WRC-03) made optional the
> requirement to prove the ability to send and receive Morse code to 
> operate
> below 30 MHz. While Morse exam elements remain on the books in the US,
> Canada and elsewhere, Switzerland and the United Kingdom have apparently
> become the first countries to delete their Morse requirements for HF
> operation. In the US, however, the FCC is unlikely to act on its own
> motion to simply make the Morse testing requirement go away.
>
> "There isn't an exception in the Administrative Procedures Act that I am
> aware of that would permit the Commission to issue an administrative fiat
> changing the license structure or exam-requirement rules," said an FCC
> staffer who's closely involved with Amateur Service rules. Other 
> countries
> can do this because they have different laws and procedures, the FCC 
> staff
> member observed, adding that even if it could be done here, "that still
> leaves unanswered the fundamental question: What do you want the new 
> rules
> to be?"
>
> In its December 1999 Report and Order restructuring Amateur Radio
> licensing, the FCC stopped short of revising the rules to sunset the 
> Morse
> requirement automatically if WRC-03 deleted Morse proficiency from the
> international Radio Regulations. The FCC also acknowledged "a clear
> dichotomy of viewpoints" on the Morse code issue within the amateur
> community.
>
> The ARRL's policy for several years has been that Morse should be 
> retained
> as a testing element in the US. At its July 18-19 meeting in Connecticut,
> however, the Board said it would solicit and review input from members on
> the Morse testing requirement and other possible revisions to Part 97
> arising from WRC-03.
>
> The first move on the Morse code question in the US is for someone to 
> file
> a Petition for Rule Making with the FCC seeking a rule change. No Code
> International (NCI) <http://www.nocode.org/> has spearheaded the battle 
> to
> eliminate the Morse requirement and would be a likely organization to 
> file
> such a petition. NCI Executive Director Carl Stevenson, WK3C, said late
> last week that NCI was still studying the matter and had not yet made a
> final decision on a plan of action. An ARRL member, Stevenson says he
> hopes personally that the League would join NCI in actively encouraging
> the FCC to eliminate the Morse exam element as soon as possible.
>
> Hopes for a quick resolution to the Morse question could be wishful
> thinking, however. Once a petition to drop the Morse exam element is
> filed, the FCC will put it on "public notice" by assigning an RM number
> and soliciting comments. If more than one such petition is filed, the FCC
> is obliged to invite comments on each. When that process is completed, 
> the
> FCC may determine that a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) is in
> order. The Commission at that point could incorporate all Morse-related
> rule making petitions into a single proceeding. The NPRM would get a
> docket number, and the comment process would begin anew.
>
> Further complicating and extending the process, the FCC most likely would
> incorporate other pending Amateur Radio-related issues into the same 
> NPRM.
> At the end of the comment and reply comment periods, the FCC would issue 
> a
> Report and Order (R&O) that includes its decision on the Morse code
> requirement and any other issues incorporated into the proceeding. The
> whole process could take a couple of years, perhaps longer.
>
> Ratification of the WRC-03 Final Acts by the US Senate does not appear to
> be necessary before the FCC can act or begin the rule making process.
> Following World Administrative Conference 1979 (WARC-79) which resulted 
> in
> three new HF amateur bands, the FCC acted in 1982, prior to Senate
> ratification of the conference's Final Acts, not only to initiate the 
> rule
> making process but to give amateurs limited access to 30 meters.
>
> Radio Amateurs of Canada has advised hams in that country that the Morse
> qualification requirement remains in effect for operation below 30 MHz,
> "pending a review by Industry Canada of the impact of the WRC-2003
> regulatory changes on the Canadian radio regulations, policies and
> procedures."
>
>
>
>
>
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-- 
Cecil
KD5NWA