[LeArc] ARLB003 ARRL to Propose New Entry-Level License, Code-Free HF Access

[Duane Whittingham]

SB QST @ ARL $ARLB003
ARLB003 ARRL to Propose New Entry-Level License, Code-Free HF Access

ZCZC AG03
QST de W1AW
ARRL Bulletin 3  ARLB003
 From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT  January 20, 2004
To all radio amateurs

SB QST ARL ARLB003
ARLB003 ARRL to Propose New Entry-Level License, Code-Free HF Access

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 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.

''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. 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.

The middle group of licensees--Technician, Tech Plus (Technician
with Element 1 credit) and General--would be merged into a new
General license that also would not 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.

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. Sumner 
said the Board felt that the highest level of accomplishment 
should include basic Morse capability. Current Novice, Tech Plus 
and General licensees would receive lifetime 5 WPM Morse credit.

''This structure provides a true entry-level license with HF
privileges to promote growth in the Amateur Service,'' Harrison said.

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.''

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 forth nearly two years ago in a Petition for 
Rule Making (RM-10413). The FCC has not yet acted on the ARRL 
plan, which would alter current HF subbands.

The ARRL license restructuring design calls for no changes in
privileges for Extra and General class licensees on 160, 60, 30, 
20, 17 or 12 meters. Novice licensees would have no access to 
those bands.

See ''ARRL to Propose New Entry-Level License, Code-Free HF 
Access'' on the ARRL Web site, 
www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/01/19/1/, for the specific subband 
allocations ARRL is proposing for each class.

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/EX


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