[Milsurplus] OT - FCC Will Soon Consolidate Commercial Radiotelegraph Certificates

[Mike Morrow]

Sandy wrote:

> Is there a shorter and more concise document that covers this?

Not that I know about.  What it describes is very similar to what happened
30 years ago when the Radiotelephone First Class license was eliminated,
with only the Second Class license surviving as the lifetime-issued General
Radiotelephone Operator license.  Now, the Radiotelegraph First Class
license will be eliminated, with only the Second Class license surviving 
as the lifetime-issued Radiotelegraph Operator license.

In the case of the telePHONE licenses, first class holders lost a license
that required a significant additional technical exam above that of the
second class.  They were demoted back to the equivalent of the second class
license.

In the case of the teleGRAPH license, first class and second class
certificate holders both take the same technical exams.  But a first class
certificate can be obtained *ONLY* after a year of service at stations that
handle public correspondence.  Without that, a second class holder can never
obtain first class even after decades as an operator at other utility Morse
stations.  First class certificate holders will lose indication of service
at stations open to public correspondence.  In that sense, they will be 
demoted back to the equivalent of the second class license.

Commercial radiotelegraph regulation, including licensing, lost all *real*
basis for existence after 12 July 1999.  There have been no SOLAS or
commercial functions served by radiotelegraph since then.  What remains 
are limited commemorative operations that do not seem to warrant maintenance
of any of the existing regulation.  I have to wonder why the FCC even
bothers with this exercise.

> I keep mine because it wasn't easy to get and at one time "meant
> something" in the radio world.

I valued my second class certificate more than any other.  After the 
qualifications for its Morse exam were significantly reduced by the FCC
about 20 years ago, it was no longer worth $50 ($35 renewal fee plus
photos for the new license) every five years to renew.

73,
Mike / KK5F