[CW] FCC Actions - OOOOPS?

[N2EY at aol.com]

In a message dated 10/15/06 10:13:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
k4kyv at hotmail.com writes:


> >Why can't the low end of 75 be moved 50 kHz instead of 150 kHz, and the 
> >lower
> >limit of each 'phone subband moved 50 kHz? Then, each license class would
> >gain as many kHz of 'phone as they lose CW/rtty. 1:1 ratio for everyone.
> 
> Why not get rid of that overly-complex matrix of emission mode/licence class 
> 
> subbands altogether?  

Because not all modes are compatible in the same bandspace.

The complexity of subbands-by-license class is being reduced, too. The old 
"Novice" bands are almost certainly going away. So we will effectively have a 3 
level system, except that Novices will have the General "CW" privileges on 
80/40/15 

While there are still a little more than 70,000 Advanceds, their numbers 
decrease every day and eventually they will all be gone, either by attrition or 
upgrading. Then we'll have a 2 level system.

Incentive licensing has obviously been a dismal 
> 
> failure in terms of its intended purpose, to reverse the trend in which 
> amateur radio was moving away from technical skills and towards appliance 
> operating.

How could any licensing system reverse that trend, given the increasing 
complexity of amateur radio equipment *and* the increasing affluence of Americans?

In the bad old days, a ham station of almost any level was a major 
investment. Those who could not invest lots of money invested their time, effort and 
ingenuity. Look at the inflation-adjusted prices of 1940s-50s ham gear for a 
start.

All that began to change in the 1960s and is still changing. 

As for Incentive Licensing, it was actually a return to the earlier system 
that existed before 1953.

But after about the mid-1970s, the watering-down began. How could incentive 
licensing succeed when, little by little, the requirements were eased?

First the FCC decided not to go after the publisher of the Bash books. No 
more experience requirement for Extra. Then they gave up giving the tests and 
made the question pools public info. The sending test went away, the General/Tech 
written was split in two, CSCEs, medical waivers, and more. The 2000 
restructuring not only eliminated the 13 and 20 wpm code tests but also reduced the 
written testing by almost half. 

> 
> I have Extra class licence since 1963 and work both phone and cw, but I 
> would be happy to see all the operator class subbands disappear, and maybe 
> keep an appropriate amount of spectrum for narrowband modes if even that is 
> deemed necessary.
> 

Should existing Novices get full privileges? Techs?

> Many nights I have tuned across 80 m and heard zero activity between 3600 
> and 3700, even when condx were good and the phone bands completely occupied. 
> 
>   10-15 years ago, the "cw" bands were filled with signals from one end to 
> the other.
> 

I think we're seeing the long term effects of license requirements changes - 
and other things.

For example, an effective 80 meter antenna isn't small. Many hams just don't 
have the space.

> The rules change was prompted by all that unused spectrum.  

Will making 3600-3700 Extra-only increase its usage?

Counting the 
> 
> number of cw and digital signals on the air at any one given time, except 
> during contests, all the digital and narrowband modes can easily fit into 
> 3500-3600 without congestion, even when all those digital signals are on the 
> 
> air. 

I think that depends on when the observation is done, and what setup is used 
to do it.


 If our narrowband modes use 300-500~ of bandwidth, and we use 
> 
> receivers with appropriate bandwidth filters, we don't need 1.5 kHz of 
> spacing between narrowband signals.
> 
> We could easily live with 3500-3600 kHz digital/cw, and 3600-4000 all modes 
> including phone and other wider band emissions, open to General thru Extra.  
> 

Does that include rtty/data in the "phone" bands? Highspeed digital that 
takes up several kHz? WinLink 2000 and similar?


> Let the coded Techs and Novics have cw privileges 3500-3600.
> 

> But actually the whole thing is a moot point.  With the dumbed-down code 
> requirements and published "question pools" there is no reason for anyone 
> who wants full privileges to not have Extra class.


Yet over 200,000 Generals and Advanceds have not done so.

73 de Jim, N2EY