[HCRA] In case you didn't make last month's meeting

[Jim Mullen]

Hi gang,

Just in case you didn't make last month's meeting and have some questions
regarding the no-code changes and upgrade process please read the latest
ARRL bulletin copied below.

Remember, February 23 is the 'go-live' date. That is also the regular date
for the Western Mass VE team so come on down Friday evening and get yourself
an upgrade. Rich, KD1XP will also be holding a VE session on Sunday evening
at 6:00 PM in Amherst and the following Friday the HCRA meeting will also
host an 'upgrade only' VE session. Sounds like exciting times for ham radio.

Here's the bulletin...

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SB QST @ ARL $ARLB007
ARLB007 No Code-Free Upgrades Available Until February 23

ZCZC AG07
QST de W1AW
ARRL Bulletin 7  ARLB007
>From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT  February 7, 2007
To all radio amateurs 

SB QST ARL ARLB007
ARLB007 No Code-Free Upgrades Available Until February 23

Code-free upgrades to General or Amateur Extra will not be available at
volunteer examination sessions until the 5 WPM Morse code requirement
disappears from the FCC's Amateur Radio Service rules on February 23. ARRL
Regulatory Information Specialist Dan Henderson, N1ND, says that, judging
from the questions he's been getting, many in the amateur community --
including some Volunteer Examiners (VEs)
-- don't fully understand the new rules that resulted from the FCC's Report
and Order (R&O) in the ''Morse code proceeding,'' WT Docket 05-235. He
stresses that VE teams may not accept upgrade applications in advance of
February 23, then hold the paperwork.

''There will be no instant midnight upgrades February 23 for applicants
advancing to General or Amateur Extra,'' Henderson explains. ''You must make
application.'' He further advises that a Certificate of Successful
Completion of Examination (CSCE) valid for Element 3 (General) or Element 4
(Amateur Extra) credit does not confer any operating privileges and, lacking
Morse code credit, is no good for an upgrade until the new rules become
effective.

''Anyone holding or earning a valid CSCE for element credit must wait until
February 23 to redeem it at a volunteer examination session,''
he says. ''You may not operate as /AG or /AE until you have upgraded and
have been issued a CSCE marked for upgrade.'' A CSCE is good for
365 days from the date of issuance, no exceptions.

Henderson further emphasizes that those who qualified as Technician
licensees under the examination regime in place from March 21, 1987, until
April 15, 2000, do not get General class Element 3 credit on that basis.
That's because the ''old'' Element 3 is not the same as the current Element
3.

Applicants upgrading at a test session on or after February 23 on the basis
of a valid CSCE must present the certificate for element credit, fill out an
application and pay any applicable exam session fee, which most VECs charge.
Between now and then, Henderson points out, upgrade applicants still have
the option of passing the 5 WPM Element 1 Morse code test in addition to the
General or Amateur Extra written tests.

Technician licensees who have not passed a Morse code examination
automatically gain new privileges on February 23 without having to apply at
an exam session.

The ARRL has posted all relevant information on these important Part
97 rule revisions on its ''FCC's Morse Code Report and Order WT Docket
05-235'' Web page, www.arrl.org/fcc/morse/.
NNNN
/EX