[QCWA] Monumental FCC Ruling Today

[Bruce Beford]

Minor correction to Pete, NL7XM's analysis of this report and Order from the
FCC:

Pete summarized by stating: 
"As long as you hold any current Amateur ticket, you may upgrade without
further examination to General Class, (providing you can show proof you ever
held a General, Advanced, or <Mar. 21, 1987 Tech+) and you can get your
Extra back if you ever had one before. (Novice tickets are not discussed.)"

"In effect, this is lifetime Credit for all written Elements ever passed.
(Note: this is not the same as a lifetime license some are confusing terms
with.)"

This is incorrect. No lifetime credit will be given for Element 2. So if for
example, someone has a 10-year old expired Amateur Extra license, they could
receive credit for Elements 3 and 4, but would have to retest for Element 2,
in order to regain the Amateur Extra license.

The FCC stated that requiring retesting of Element 2 would help insure that
the (re)applicant still retained some technical and regulatory knowledge.

I encourage everyone (particularly VEs) to read and understand these changes
to Part 97, which will go into effect 30 days after publication in the
Federal Register.

Bruce/N1RX