[K3PZN-List] Been waiting for a no code HF license?

Mon, 19 Jan 2004 19:01:47 -0800 (PST)

I agree, we learned code just so we wouldn't have to.
--- Keith Krichinsky <[email protected]> wrote:
> Is this a kick in the face or am I missing something
> here?
> 
> 73's;
> Keith Krichinsky, KB3HHK
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ----Original Message Follows----
> From: "Al Bisasky" <[email protected]>
> Reply-To: [email protected]
> To: <[email protected]>
> Subject: [K3PZN-List] Been waiting for a no code HF
> license?
> Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 16:51:40 -0500
> 
> ARRL to Propose New Entry-Level License, Code-Free
> HF Access
> NEWINGTON, CT, Jan 19, 2004--The ARRL will ask the
> FCC to create a new
> entry-level Amateur Radio license that would include
> HF phone privileges
> without requiring a Morse code test. The League also
> will propose
> consolidating all current licensees into three
> classes, retaining the
> Element 1 Morse requirement--now 5 WPM--only for the
> highest class. The ARRL
> Board of Directors overwhelmingly approved the plan
> January 16 during its
> Annual Meeting in Windsor, Connecticut. The
> proposals--developed by the ARRL
> Executive Committee following a Board instruction
> last July--are in response
> to changes made in Article 25 of the international
> Radio Regulations at
> World Radiocommunication Conference 2003 (WRC-03).
> They would continue a
> process of streamlining the amateur licensing
> structure that the FCC began
> more than five years ago but left unfinished in the
> Amateur Service license
> restructuring Report and Order (WT 98-143) that went
> into effect April 15,
> 2000.
> 
> "Change in the Amateur Radio Service in the US,
> especially license
> requirements and even more so when Morse is
> involved, has always been
> emotional," said ARRL First Vice President Joel
> Harrison, W5ZN, in
> presenting the Executive Committee's
> recommendations. "In fact, without a
> doubt, Morse is Amateur Radio's 'religious debate.'"
> The plan adopted by the
> Board departs only slightly from the Executive
> Committee's recommendations.
> 
> The "New" Novice
> 
> The entry-level license class--being called "Novice"
> for now--would require
> a 25-question written exam. It would offer limited
> HF CW/data and
> phone/image privileges on 80, 40, 15 and 10 meters
> as well as VHF and UHF
> privileges on 6 and 2 meters and on 222-225 and
> 430-450 MHz. Power output
> would be restricted to 100 W on 80, 40, and 15
> meters and to 50 W on 10
> meters and up, thus avoiding the need for the more
> complex RF safety
> questions in the Novice question pool.
> 
> "The Board sought to achieve balance in giving new
> Novice licensees the
> opportunity to sample a wider range of Amateur Radio
> activity than is
> available to current Technicians while retaining a
> motivation to upgrade,"
> said ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ. "It was also seen
> as important to limit
> the scope of privileges so the exam would not have
> to include material that
> is inappropriate at the entry level."
> 
> As an introduction to Amateur Radio, the Novice
> license served successfully
> for most of its 50-year history. The FCC has not
> issued new Novice licenses
> since the 2000 license restructuring, however. Under
> the ARRL plan, current
> Novice licensees--now the smallest and least active
> group of radio
> amateurs--would be grandfathered to the new
> entry-level class without
> further testing.
> 
> Anticipating assertions that the new plan would
> "dumb down" Amateur Radio
> licensing, Harrison said those currently holding a
> ticket often perceive the
> level of complexity to have been greater when they
> were first licensed than
> it actually was. "Quite frankly," he said, "if you
> review the questions
> presented in our license manuals throughout the
> years, you will be surprised
> how they compare to those of today."
> 
> Technicians and Generals
> 
> The middle group of licensees--Technician, Tech Plus
> (Technician with
> Element 1 credit) and General--would be consolidated
> into a new General
> license that no longer would require a Morse
> examination. Current Technician
> and Tech Plus license holders automatically would
> gain current General class
> privileges without additional testing. The current
> Element 3 General
> examination would remain in place for new
> applicants. ARRL already has
> proposed additional phone privileges for Generals in
> its "Novice refarming"
> petition, RM-10413, but the FCC has not yet acted on
> that petition.
> 
> Morse Code Testing Retained for Extra
> 
> At the top rung, the Board indicated that it saw no
> compelling reason to
> change the Amateur Extra class license requirements.
> The ARRL plan calls on
> the FCC to combine the current Advanced and Amateur
> Extra class licensees
> into Amateur Extra, because the technical level of
> the exams passed by these
> licensees is very similar. New applicants for Extra
> would have to pass a 5
> WPM Morse code examination, but the written exam
> would stay the same. The
> League's plan calls for current Novice, Tech Plus
> and General class
> licensees to receive lifetime Element 1 (5 WPM
> Morse) credit.
> 
> "This structure provides a true entry-level license
> with HF privileges to
> promote growth in the Amateur Service," Harrison
> said. "It also simplifies
> the FCC database by conforming to the current
> Universal Licensing System
> (ULS) structure and does not mandate any
> modifications to it."
> 
> Sumner concurred. "The Board started out by
> recognizing that three license
> classes was the right number when looking down the
> road 10 or 15 years," he
> said. "We need a new entry-level license."
> 
> "On the other hand, there's nothing particularly
> wrong with the existing
> Extra class license," he continued. "The change in
> the international
> regulations notwithstanding, the Board felt that the
> highest level of
> accomplishment in the FCC's amateur licensing
> structure should include basic
> Morse capability."
> 
> Sumner and Harrison say the current Technician
> entry-level ticket provides
> little opportunity to experience facets of ham radio
> beyond repeater
> operation. "The quality of that experience," Sumner
> said, "often depends on
> the operator's location."
> 
> Among other advantages, Sumner said the plan would
> allow new Novices to
> participate in HF SSB emergency nets on 75 and 40
> meters as well as on the
> top 100 kHz of 15 meters. The new license also could
> get another name,
> Sumner said. "We're trying to recapture the magic of
> the old Novice license,
> but in a manner that's appropriate for the 21st
> century."
> 
> Proposal Includes "Novice Refarming" Band Plan
> 
> The overall proposed ARRL license restructuring plan
> would more smoothly
> integrate HF spectrum privileges across the three
> license classes and would
> incorporate the "Novice refarming" plan the League
> put 
=== message truncated ===

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