[South Florida DX Association] FCC Proposes to Drop Morse Code Requirement for All License Classes

[wa4aw at juno.com]

FCC Proposes to Drop Morse Code Requirement for All License Classes

NEWINGTON, CT, July 20, 2005--The FCC has proposed dropping the 5 WPM
Morse 
code element as a requirement to obtain an Amateur Radio license of any 
class. The Commission recommended the change to its Part 97 Amateur
Service 
rules in a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) in WT Docket 05-235. Any

rule changes proposed in the NPRM would not become final until the FCC 
gathers additional public comments, formally adopts any changes to its 
rules and concludes the proceeding by issuing a Report and Order (R&O) 
spelling out the changes and specifying an effective date. That's not 
likely to happen for several months. The FCC declined in its NPRM to go 
forward with any other suggested changes to Amateur Service licensing
rules 
or operating privileges beyond elimination of the Morse requirement.

"Based upon the petitions and comments, we propose to amend our amateur 
service rules to eliminate the requirement that individuals pass a 
telegraphy examination in order to qualify for any amateur radio operator

license," the FCC said in its NPRM, released July 19. This week's NPRM 
consolidated 18 petitions for rule making from the amateur 
community--including one from the ARRL--that proposed a wide range of 
additional changes to the amateur rules. The FCC said the various
petitions 
had attracted 6200 comments from the amateur community, which soon will 
have the opportunity to comment again--this time on the FCC's proposals
in 
response to those petitions.

The Commission said it believes dropping Element 1--the 5 WPM Morse 
examination--would "encourage individuals who are interested in 
communications technology, or who are able to contribute to the
advancement 
of the radio art, to become amateur radio operators." The FCC said it
also 
would eliminate a requirement it believes "is now unnecessary and that
may 
discourage" current licensees from advancing their skills, and that it 
would "promote more efficient use" of current Amateur Radio spectrum.

The FCC cited changes in Article 25 of the international Radio
Regulations 
adopted at World Radiocommunication Conference 2003 as the primary reason

to go forward with eliminating Morse code as an Amateur Radio licensing 
requirement in the future. Among other changes, WRC-03 deleted the Morse 
testing requirement for amateur applicants seeking HF privileges, leaving

it up to individual countries to determine whether or not they want to 
mandate Morse testing. Several countries already have dropped their Morse

requirements.

ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, said he was not surprised that the FCC 
proposed altogether scrapping the Morse code requirement. The League and 
others had called for retaining the 5 WPM requirement only for Amateur 
Extra class applicants. Sumner expressed dismay, however, that the FCC 
turned away proposals from the League and other petitioners to create a
new 
entry-level Amateur Radio license class.

"We're disappointed that the Commission prefers to deny an opportunity to

give Amateur Radio the restructuring it needs for the 21st century," he 
said. "It appears that the Commission is taking the easy road, but the
easy 
road is seldom the right road."

Sumner said ARRL officials and the Board of Directors would closely study

the 30-page NPRM and plan to comment further after they've had the 
opportunity to consider the Commission's stated rationales for its
proposals.

In 2004, the ARRL filed a Petition for Rule Making asking the FCC to
amend 
Part 97 to complete the Amateur Service restructuring begun in 1999 but 
"left unfinished." The League called on the FCC to create a new
entry-level 
license, reduce the number of actual license classes to three and drop
the 
Morse code testing requirement for all classes except for Amateur Extra. 
Among other recommendations, the League asked the FCC to automatically 
upgrade Technician licensees to General and Advanced licensees to Amateur

Extra. In this week's NPRM, the FCC said it was not persuaded such 
automatic upgrades were in the public interest.

The FCC said it did not believe a new entry-level license class was 
warranted because current Novice and Tech Plus licensees already can
easily 
upgrade to General. "We also note that, if our proposal to eliminate 
telegraphy testing in the amateur service is adopted," the FCC continued,

"a person who is not a licensee will be able to qualify for a General
Class 
operator license by passing two written examinations, and that a person
who 
is a Technician Class licensee will be able to qualify for a General
Class 
operator license by passing one written examination." The FCC said it
does 
not believe either path to be unreasonable.

The FCC also said that it's already addressed some of the other issues 
petitioners raised in its "Phone Band Expansion" (or "Omnibus") NPRM in
WT 
Docket 04-140. In that proceeding, the Commission proposed to go along
with 
the ARRL's Novice refarming proposal aimed at reallocating the current 
Novice/Tech Plus subbands to provide additional phone spectrum. Under the

plan, Novice/Tech Plus licensees would be granted CW privileges in the 
current General CW subbands.

A 60-day period for members of the public to comment on the FCC's NPRM in

WT 05-235 will begin once the NPRM appears in the Federal Register. Reply

comments will be due within 75 days of the NPRM's publication in the 
Federal Register.

(Tnx to ARRL. webpage)