[GreenKeys] FW: ARLB030 FCC to Drop Morse Testing for All AmateurLicense Classes

[Lee Mushel]

A black day, indeed, for amateur radio.   And for our society, generally,
which, as we all know, is suffering from a serious "dumbing down."   A
parallel situation is the current trend (actually official policy in
Wisconsin) to rely on internet connections for emergency communications.   I
keep asking how one can possibly consider using the telephone and internet
connections as any part of this effort when, by definition, it would be the
breakdown of these services that would trigger the use of ham radio?   Jean
Piaget must be wrong when he defines the stages of human brain development.
We can't possibly the an entire nation of stage three's!

Lee  K9WRU
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jack" <wa2hwj at att.net>
To: "GreenKeys List" <greenkeys at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Saturday, December 16, 2006 7:31 AM
Subject: [GreenKeys] FW: ARLB030 FCC to Drop Morse Testing for All
AmateurLicense Classes


>
> Subject: ARLB030 FCC to Drop Morse Testing for All Amateur License
> Classes
>
>
> SB QST @ ARL $ARLB030
> ARLB030 FCC to Drop Morse Testing for All Amateur License Classes
>
> ZCZC AG30
> QST de W1AW
> ARRL Bulletin 30  ARLB030
> >From ARRL Headquarters
> Newington CT  December 16, 2006
> To all radio amateurs
>
> SB QST ARL ARLB030
> ARLB030 FCC to Drop Morse Testing for All Amateur License Classes
>
> In an historic move, the FCC has acted to drop the Morse code
> requirement for all Amateur Radio license classes. The Commission
> today adopted a Report and Order (R&O) in WT Docket 05-235. In a
> break from typical practice, the FCC only issued a public notice
> at
> or about the close of business and not the actual Report and
> Order,
> so some details -- including the effective date of the R&O --
> remain
> uncertain.  The public notice is located at,
> http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-269012A1.pdf
> .
>
> Also today, the FCC also adopted an Order on Reconsideration, in
> WT
> Docket 04-140 -- the "omnibus" proceeding -- agreeing to modify
> the
> Amateur Radio rules in response to an ARRL request to accommodate
> automatically controlled narrowband digital stations on 80 meters
> in
> the wake of rule changes that became effective today at 12:01 AM
> Eastern Time. The Commission said it will carve out the 3585 to
> 3600
> kHz frequency segment for such operations. Prior to the
> long-awaited
> action on the Morse code issue, Amateur Radio applicants for
> General
> and higher class licenses had to pass a 5 WPM Morse code test to
> operate on HF. The Commission said today's R&O eliminates that
> requirement for General and Amateur Extra applicants.
>
> "This change eliminates an unnecessary regulatory burden that may
> discourage current Amateur Radio operators from advancing their
> skills and participating more fully in the benefits of Amateur
> Radio," the FCC said. The ARRL had asked the FCC to retain the 5
> WPM
> for Amateur Extra class applicants only. The FCC proposed earlier
> to
> drop the requirement across the board, however, and it held to
> that
> decision in today's R&O.
>
> Perhaps more important, the FCC's action in WT Docket 05-235
> appears
> to put all Technician licensees on an equal footing: Once the R&O
> goes into effect, holders of Technician class licenses will have
> equivalent HF privileges, whether or not they've passed the 5 WPM
> Element 1 Morse examination. The FCC said the R&O in the Morse
> code
> docket would eliminate a disparity in the operating privileges for
> the Technician and Technician Plus class licensees. Technician
> licensees without Element 1 credit (ie, Tech Plus licensees)
> currently have operating privileges on all amateur frequencies
> above
> 30 MHz.
>
> "With today's elimination of the Morse code exam requirements, the
> FCC concluded that the disparity between the operating privileges
> of
> Technician Class licensees and Technician Plus Class licensees
> should not be retained," the FCC said in its public notice.
> "Therefore, the FCC, in today's action, afforded Technician and
> Technician Plus licensees identical operating privileges."
>
> The wholesale elimination of a Morse code requirement for all
> license classes ends a longstanding national and international
> regulatory tradition in the requirements to gain access to Amateur
> Radio frequencies below 30 MHz. The first no-code license in the
> US
> was the Technician ticket, instituted in 1991. The question of
> whether or not to drop the Morse requirement altogether has been
> the
> subject of often-heated debate over the past several years, but
> the
> handwriting has been on the wall. A number of countries, including
> Canada, no longer require applicants for an Amateur Radio license
> to
> pass a Morse code test to gain HF operating privileges. The list
> has
> been increasing regularly.
>
> The FCC said today's R&O in WT Docket 05-235 comports with
> revisions
> to the international Radio Regulations resulting from the
> International Telecommunication Union (ITU) World
> Radiocommunication
> Conference 2003 (WRC-03). At that gathering, delegates agreed to
> authorize each country to determine whether or not to require that
> applicants demonstrate Morse code proficiency in order to qualify
> for an Amateur Radio license with privileges on frequencies below
> 30
> MHz.
>
> Typically, the effective date of an FCC Order is 30 days after it
> appears in the Federal Register. That would mean the Morse
> requirement and the revised 80-meter segment for automatically
> controlled digital stations would likely not go into effect until
> late January 2007.
>
> The ARRL will provide any additional information on these
> important
> Part 97 rule revisions as it becomes available.
> NNNN
> /EX
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> GreenKeys mailing list
> GreenKeys at mailman.qth.net
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/greenkeys
>
>