[ETSList] * CW TESTING Petitions at FCC

[Drew_Moore]

* CW TESTING Petitions at FCC

A number of petitions to drop or maintain cw or Morse testing as a
license requirement have been filed with the FCC as a result of action
taken at WRC 2003.  The decision of WRC-03 in late July to eliminate
Morse Code proficiency as a international requirement for amateur access
to frequencies below 30 MHz has left it to each country to decide
whether to retain Morse Code proficiency as a requirement for access to
HF frequencies.

For details see http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2003/08/29/2/?nc=1  
ARRL policy is not to comment on other's proposals unless they involve
spectrum issues and these proposals do not.  ARRL has begun the process
of developing its own proposal.

Once the process of collecting comments on all Morse code-related
petitions 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.  A good guess is that this will happen about
Hamvention time next spring.

Meanwhile the ARRL Board has begun formulating its own proposal.  A
committee headed by ARRL First Vice President Joel Harrison, W5ZN, has
been tasked to develop a set of proposals to be set before the ARRL
Board by December 2003 and voted upon at the January 2004 ARRL Board
meeting.  The resulting proposal will then be filed with the FCC a month
or so later and certainly before the FCC concludes action on the
petitions already before it.  Whatever the ARRL proposes and the FCC
eventually determines to implement will probably be put into effect by
mid 2005, about two years away.

In order to help me decide how I will vote I need to get input from
Hudson Division ARRL members.  This will help determine how I will vote
in January.  

Though license structure and exam content are not directly part of the
Morse issue several petitions suggest that the current license structure
and exam content should also be changed.  Those petitions that discuss
license structure generally suggest a three-tier license structure of
Entry, General and Extra licenses. Proposals as to content vary from
suggestions to make the Entry level license a simple written exam of
perhaps 25 questions, concentrating on operating practice, essential
rules, and very basic technical matters on one hand to increasing
emphasis and difficulty of technical content on the other.

So far I have received very few comments from members in the Hudson
Division on these questions.  As we have the ability to send information
to Division member it seemed like a good idea to get member opinions on
these issues. 

I have prepared a short questionnaire. You shouldn't feel limited to the
questions and alternatives in the questionnaire. Feel free to add your
comments. Hearing the reasons why you prefer one alternative is even
more helpful.  Your answers will help me reach a decision as to how I
will vote on the ARRL proposal in January.

Please cut and paste the survey below and send your replies to me at
n2ff@arrl.org 

============================

1. Do you think ARRL should fight the elimination of Morse Code
requirements for licensing? 
                 
                 ___Yes                    ___No

2. Do you think ARRL should petition FCC to abolish Morse Code
requirements for licensing? 

                ___Yes                     ___No

3. Provided you think ARRL should fight elimination of Morse Code
requirements (see No. 1, above) please select either a, b or c to
indicate how hard we should fight to keep the code requirement:

___ a. Drop everything else (e.g., the fight against BPL, the fight to
pass legislation to protect our frequencies, the fight against
restrictions on antenna structures).
___ b. Drop all but the most important projects (e.g., the fight against
BPL).
___ c. File a petition with FCC to keep the code requirement, but do
nothing else.

4. Entry level Amateurs should pass a Morse Code test to have HF
frequency privileges.  

__ Strongly Agree
__ Agree
__ No Opinion
__ Disagree
__Strongly Disagree

5.  	General Class Amateurs should pass a Morse Code test to have HF
frequency privileges.  

__Strongly Agree
 __Agree
 __No Opinion
 __Disagree
 __Strongly Disagree

6.	Extra Class Amateurs should pass a Morse Code test to have HF
frequency privileges.  

__Strongly Agree
__Agree
__No Opinion
__Disagree
__Strongly Disagree

7.	If the Morse Proficiency requirement is eliminated there still should
be portions of each band limited to CW and narrow band data.

 __Strongly Agree
 __Agree
 __No Opinion
 __Disagree
 __Strongly Disagree

8.	Entry level licenses should include access to 

	__ VHF and UHF frequencies only
      __  Limited portions of one or two HF bands and VHF and UHF  
                 frequencies.
      __  Limited portions of three or four HF bands and VHF and UHF  
                 frequencies.
      __  Limited portions of all HF bands and VHF and UHF
frequencies.
           __  All General Class portions of two HF bands and VHF and
UHF  
                 frequencies.

9.       Entry level licenses should be limited to
	
      __  5 Watts on HF
	__  50 Watts on HF
	__  100 Watts on HF
	__   250 Watts on HF
	__   Normal amateur power limits

10.      Entry level licenses should be for a term of
        
	__  Two years  non-renewable
	__  Two years  but renewable
	__  Ten years renewable

11.    I have been a Ham for  ____ years

12.    I took my last Amateur license exam

        __  from a VE Team     __  from an FCC Examiner

13.       How important is the Morse Issue to you?

      ......   Crucial
      ......  Very Important
     .......  Somewhat Important
    ........   Not Important 
    ........   Unimportant

Please add any Comments.


Thanks for taking the time to let me know your thoughts.

73,  de Frank Fallon  N2FF,  Hudson Division Director