[SFDXA] FCC To Reinstate Morse Code Requirement!

[Kai]

The only requirements is that you can send and receive  "dit-dah-dah-dah-dah --- 
dit-dah - dit-dah-dah-dit - dit-dah-dit"]
73
Kai, KE4PT

On 4/1/2014 1:59 PM, Bill wrote:
> C To Reinstate Morse Code Requirement!
> /*“It was a big mistake eliminating the Morse Code test,” admits FCC official*/
> By Dan Romanchik, KB6NU
> Washington, D.C. – *April 1, 2014* - Today, the Federal Communications 
> Commission (Commission or FCC) approved Report and Order 14-987af which 
> reinstates the Morse Code test for General Class and Amateur Extra Class 
> licensees. “It was a big mistake eliminating the Morse Code test,” admits 
> Dotty Dasher, the FCC’s director of examinations. “We now realize that being 
> able to send and receive Morse Code is an essential skill for radio amateurs. 
> As they say, it really does get through when other FCC To Reinstate Morse Code 
> Exams <http://ke2yk.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/by1.jpg>modes can’t.”
> Not only will new applicants have to take the test, but General Class 
> licensees who have never passed a code test will have one year to pass a 5-wpm 
> code test. Similarly, Amateur Extra class licensees that never passed a code 
> test will have one year to pass a 13-wpm test. Those amateurs that fail to 
> pass the test will face revocation of their operating privileges. Materials 
> for administering the examinations will be distributed to Volunteer Examiner 
> Coordinators by the end of April, so that they can begin the testing on May 1, 
> 2014.
> “This isn’t going to be one of those silly multiple-choice type tests,” noted 
> Dasher. “We’re going to be sending five-character random code groups, just 
> like we did in the old days. And, applicants will have to prove that they can 
> send, too, using a poorly adjusted straight key.”
> Technician Class licensees will not be required to take a Morse Code test, nor 
> will a test be required for new applicants. “We discussed it,” said Dasher, 
> “but decided that since most Techs can’t even figure out how to program their 
> HTs, requiring them to learn Morse Code seemed like cruel and unusual 
> punishment.”
> When asked what other actions we might see from the FCC, Dasher hinted that in 
> the future applicants taking the written exam may be required to draw circuit 
> diagrams, such as Colpitts oscillators and diode ring mixers, once again. 
> “We’re beginning to think that if an applicant passes an amateur radio license 
> exam it  should mean that he or she actually knows something,” she said.
> For further information, contact James X. Shorts, Assistant Liaison to the 
> Deputy Chief of Public Relations for the FCC at (202) 555-1212 or 
> jim.shorts at fcc.gov <mailto:jim.shorts at fcc.gov>. For more news and information 
> about the FCC, please visit www.fcc.gov <http://www.fcc.gov/>.
>
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