[HCRA] Code or No Code?

[Jim Mullen]

As most of you are aware, the requirement to demonstrate ability to send
and/or receive Morse code for operation below 30 MHz was made optional at
the recent World Radio Conference this July. This means it is now up to the
individual countries to make their own decision as to whether or not to
continue to require Morse proficiency for under 30 MHz operation.

I've reprinted information from the most recent ARRL letter below to give
you some idea of what has to happen to remove the Morse restriction in the
United States.

What do you think? If you think it's a good idea to remove the requirement
it's important you let the appropriate people in the right places know your
views. The ARRL is amateur radio's best voice in the USA, but their
membership is only about 25% of the licensed amateurs in the US. I'm sure if
we crunched the numbers the average age and license class of an ARRL member
would be quite different than the amateur population as a whole. Be aware
that the ARRL needs to be responsive to its members, and has to balance the
members desires with the overall worth of rules changes.

So, if you want to see things change I would suggest a few things to do:

1.  Contact your local ARRL Division Manager, Tom Frenaye and let him know
your views.

2.  If you're not an ARRL member, think about joining. It's not that
expensive and the broader their member base becomes the more likely their
views will converge with the average ham.

3.  Contact the FCC with your opinions.

4.  Talk it up at club meetings and on the local repeaters. You will be
amazed at how few people are aware of what is going on at any given time.
The more people that know, the better off we will be.

I'm in favor of dropping the requirement. It would bring us into alignment
with the rest of the world. It would certainly open up our hobby to more
people. Growth of amateur radio in the US has been stagnant lately, maybe
this will be another boost similar to "no-code license" that started in the
early 90's.

Anyway, give it some thought and take some action, no matter what way you
think this should go. If we just sit on the sidelines, do nothing, then
complain that things should have changed - who's to blame for that!

'73.. and good DX!

Jim, KK1W


==>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."