[South Florida DX Association] FCC Noncommittal on "Morse Code" Proceeding Action

[wa4aw at juno.com]

FCC Noncommittal on "Morse Code" Proceeding Action

NEWINGTON, CT, Feb 13, 2006--Just when the FCC will act on the "Morse 
code" proceeding, WT Docket 05-235, remains hazy. The Commission 
released a Notice of Proposed Rule Making and Order (NPRM&O) last 
July proposing to eliminate the Element 1 (5 WPM) Morse code 
requirement for all license classes. The Amateur Radio community has 
filed more than 3800 comments on the proceeding, and additional 
comments continue to show up, even though the formal comment deadline 
was last October 31 (with reply comments by November 14). The 
next--and most-anticipated--step for the Commission is to formally 
adopt any revisions to its rules and conclude the proceeding with a 
Report and Order (R&O) that spells out the changes and specifies 
their effective date.

"There really is no news," an FCC Wireless Telecommunications Bureau 
staffer told ARRL on background. "We certainly hope to release WT 
Docket 05-235 sometime this year, but we're not making any 
predictions at this time. We certainly are not saving up any big 
announcements for Dayton Hamvention."

When the FCC does act on WT 05-235, no one's expecting any major 
surprises: The Commission appears poised to simply drop the Morse 
requirement as it proposed last summer. Beyond eliminating the Morse 
requirement, the FCC declined in its NPRM&O to go forward with any 
other suggested changes to Amateur Service licensing rules or 
operating privileges.

The proceeding began with 18 petitions for rule making--many just 
calling for the elimination of the Morse requirement but some asking 
for more far-reaching changes in the Amateur Service rules. The 
various petitions attracted a total of some 6200 comments. The FCC 
subsequently consolidated the petitions--including one from the ARRL 
asking the FCC to establish a new entry-level license class and to 
retain the Morse requirement for Amateur Extra class applicants--into 
a single proceeding designated WT 05-235.

Worth noting is that the FCC did not propose in WT 05-235 to extend 
HF privileges to current Technician licensees who have not passed a 
Morse code examination. In its NPRM&O the FCC suggested that in a 
no-Morse-requirement regime, such "codeless Techs" would be able to 
gain HF access by taking the Element 3 General class written examination.

Another Docket Ahead of Morse Code Proceeding

Before it releases an R&O on the Morse code proceeding, however, the 
WTB wants to wrap up action in another Amateur Radio-related 
docket--the "Phone Band Expansion" (or "Omnibus") NPRM in WT Docket 
04-140, released last April 15. A dozen petitions for rulemaking, 
some dating back to 2001, were consolidated in the Omnibus 
proceeding. In that NPRM, the Commission proposed to go along with 
the ARRL's Novice refarming plan aimed at reallocating the current 
Novice/Tech Plus subbands to expand portions of the 80, 40 and 15 
meter phone bands. The FCC also agreed with an ARRL proposal to 
extend privileges in the current General CW-only HF subbands to 
present Novice and Tech Plus licensees (or Technicians with Element 1
credit).

At Dayton Hamvention 2005, the FCC's Bill Cross, W3TN, told the FCC 
Forum that commenters generally seemed to support the League's Novice 
refarming proposal, although he cited requests to establish even 
wider phone bands "particularly in the 75-meter band." The Amateur 
Radio community also was very favorably disposed toward the FCC's 
proposal in WT 04-140 to essentially do away with its rules 
prohibiting the manufacture and marketing to Amateur Radio operators 
of amplifiers capable of operation on 12 and 10 meters, Cross said.

CW Bands, Privileges Unaffected

Any FCC decision to eliminate the 5 WPM Morse code requirement for HF 
access would have no impact on either the current HF CW-only subbands 
or on the CW privileges of Amateur Radio licensees. The Morse code 
proceeding neither put forward nor recommended any changes in CW 
allocations or privileges.

(ARRL Web)