[HCARC] Fwd: ARLB010 FCC Invites Comments on ARRL Technician Enhancement Proposal

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From: memberlist at www.arrl.org
To: w4wj at aol.com
Sent: 3/15/2019 2:50:02 PM Central Standard Time
Subject: ARLB010 FCC Invites Comments on ARRL Technician Enhancement Proposal

SB QST @ ARL $ARLB010ARLB010 FCC Invites Comments on ARRL Technician Enhancement Proposal
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 ARRL Bulletin 10  ARLB010From ARRL Headquarters
 Newington CT  March 15, 2019To all radio amateurs 
SB QST ARL ARLB010ARLB010 FCC Invites Comments on ARRL Technician Enhancement Proposal
The FCC has invited public comments on ARRL's 2018 Petition for RuleMaking, now designated as RM-11828, which asks the FCC to expand HFprivileges for Technician licensees to include limited phoneprivileges on 75, 40, and 15 meters, plus RTTY and digital modeprivileges on 80, 40, 15, and 10 meters.
Interested parties have 30 days to comment. The Technicianenhancement proposals stemmed from the recommendations of the ARRLBoard of Directors' Entry-Level License Committee, which exploredvarious initiatives and gauged member opinions in 2016 and 2017.
"This action will enhance the available license operating privilegesin what has become the principal entry-level license class in theAmateur Service," ARRL said in its Petition. "It will attract morenewcomers to Amateur Radio, it will result in increased retention oflicensees who hold Technician Class licenses, and it will provide animproved incentive for entry-level licensees to increase technicalself-training and pursue higher license class achievement anddevelopment of communications skills."
Specifically, ARRL proposes to provide Technician licensees - bothpresent and future - with:
* Phone privileges at 3.900 to 4.000 MHz, 7.225 to 7.300 MHz, and21.350 to 21.450 MHz.
* RTTY and digital privileges in current Technician allocations on80, 40, 15, and 10 meters.
The ARRL petition points out the explosion in popularity of variousdigital modes over the past 2 decades. Under the ARRL plan, themaximum HF power level for Technician operators would remain at 200W PEP. The few remaining Novice licensees would gain no newprivileges under ARRL's proposal.
ARRL's petition points to the need for compelling incentives notonly to become a radio amateur in the first place, but then toupgrade and further develop skills. Demographic and technologicalchanges call for a "periodic rebalancing" between those twoobjectives, ARRL maintained in his proposal. The FCC has notassessed entry-level operating privileges since 2005.
The Entry-Level License Committee offered very specific data- andsurvey-supported findings about growth in Amateur Radio and itsplace in the advanced technological demographic, which includesindividuals younger than 30. It received significant input from ARRLmembers via more than 8,000 survey responses. "The Committee'sanalysis noted that today, Amateur Radio exists among many moremodes of communication than it did half a century ago, or even 20years ago," ARRL said in its petition.
Now numbering some 384,500, Technician licensees comprise more thanhalf of the US Amateur Radio population. ARRL stressed in itspetition the urgency of making the license more attractive tonewcomers, in part to improve upon Science, Technology, Engineering,and Mathematics (STEM) education, "that inescapably accompanies ahealthy, growing Amateur Radio Service."
ARRL said its proposal is critical to develop improved operatingskills, increasing emergency preparedness participation, improvingtechnical self-training, and boosting overall growth in the AmateurService, which has remained nearly inert at about 1% per year.
The Entry-Level License Committee determined that the currentTechnician class question pool already covers far more material thannecessary for an entry-level exam to validate expanded privileges.ARRL told the FCC that it would continue to refine examinationpreparation and training materials aimed at STEM topics, increaseoutreach and recruitment, work with Amateur Radio clubs, andencourage educational institutions to utilize Amateur Radio in STEMand other experiential learning programs.NNNN/EX