[SixClub] CW SK

[Barry Bogart]

The sky WON'T fall. In Canada they took away the code
over a year ago, and I haven't noticed any difference
at all. None of my VHF friends have bought new HF
rigs.      I haven't heard a bunch of lid VE's on HF,
but I spend most of my time on VHF anyway. I am more
worried about HF  riff-raff migrating to VHF! Then
again, that would be the best thing that could happen
to them.

73, Barry
VE7VIE/WV2J

--- Jerry - W9FS <w9fs at netzero.net> wrote:

> ARLB030 FCC to Drop Morse Testing for All Amateur
> License Classes
> 
> ZCZC AG30
> QST de W1AW 
> ARRL Bulletin 30 ARLB030
> >From ARRL Headquarters 
> Newington CT December 16, 2006
> To all radio amateurs 
> 
> SB QST ARL ARLB030
> ARLB030 FCC to Drop Morse Testing for All Amateur
> License Classes
> 
> In an historic move, the FCC has acted to drop the
> Morse code
> requirement for all Amateur Radio license classes.
> The Commission
> today adopted a Report and Order (R&O) in WT Docket
> 05-235. In a
> break from typical practice, the FCC only issued a
> public notice at
> or about the close of business and not the actual
> Report and Order,
> so some details -- including the effective date of
> the R&O -- remain
> uncertain. The public notice is located at,
>
<http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-269012A1.pdf>.
> 
> Also today, the FCC also adopted an Order on
> Reconsideration, in WT
> Docket 04-140 -- the "omnibus" proceeding --
> agreeing to modify the
> Amateur Radio rules in response to an ARRL request
> to accommodate
> automatically controlled narrowband digital stations
> on 80 meters in
> the wake of rule changes that became effective today
> at 12:01 AM
> Eastern Time. The Commission said it will carve out
> the 3585 to 3600
> kHz frequency segment for such operations. Prior to
> the long-awaited
> action on the Morse code issue, Amateur Radio
> applicants for General
> and higher class licenses had to pass a 5 WPM Morse
> code test to
> operate on HF. The Commission said today's R&O
> eliminates that
> requirement for General and Amateur Extra
> applicants.
> 
> "This change eliminates an unnecessary regulatory
> burden that may
> discourage current Amateur Radio operators from
> advancing their
> skills and participating more fully in the benefits
> of Amateur
> Radio," the FCC said. The ARRL had asked the FCC to
> retain the 5 WPM
> for Amateur Extra class applicants only. The FCC
> proposed earlier to
> drop the requirement across the board, however, and
> it held to that
> decision in today's R&O.
> 
> Perhaps more important, the FCC's action in WT
> Docket 05-235 appears
> to put all Technician licensees on an equal footing:
> Once the R&O
> goes into effect, holders of Technician class
> licenses will have
> equivalent HF privileges, whether or not they've
> passed the 5 WPM
> Element 1 Morse examination. The FCC said the R&O in
> the Morse code
> docket would eliminate a disparity in the operating
> privileges for
> the Technician and Technician Plus class licensees.
> Technician
> licensees without Element 1 credit (ie, Tech Plus
> licensees)
> currently have operating privileges on all amateur
> frequencies above
> 30 MHz.
> 
> "With today's elimination of the Morse code exam
> requirements, the
> FCC concluded that the disparity between the
> operating privileges of
> Technician Class licensees and Technician Plus Class
> licensees
> should not be retained," the FCC said in its public
> notice.
> "Therefore, the FCC, in today's action, afforded
> Technician and
> Technician Plus licensees identical operating
> privileges."
> 
> The wholesale elimination of a Morse code
> requirement for all
> license classes ends a longstanding national and
> international
> regulatory tradition in the requirements to gain
> access to Amateur
> Radio frequencies below 30 MHz. The first no-code
> license in the US
> was the Technician ticket, instituted in 1991. The
> question of
> whether or not to drop the Morse requirement
> altogether has been the
> subject of often-heated debate over the past several
> years, but the
> handwriting has been on the wall. A number of
> countries, including
> Canada, no longer require applicants for an Amateur
> Radio license to
> pass a Morse code test to gain HF operating
> privileges. The list has
> been increasing regularly.
> 
> The FCC said today's R&O in WT Docket 05-235
> comports with revisions
> to the international Radio Regulations resulting
> from the
> International Telecommunication Union (ITU) World
> Radiocommunication
> Conference 2003 (WRC-03). At that gathering,
> delegates agreed to
> authorize each country to determine whether or not
> to require that
> applicants demonstrate Morse code proficiency in
> order to qualify
> for an Amateur Radio license with privileges on
> frequencies below 30
> MHz.
> 
> Typically, the effective date of an FCC Order is 30
> days after it
> appears in the Federal Register. That would mean the
> Morse
> requirement and the revised 80-meter segment for
> automatically
> controlled digital stations would likely not go into
> effect until
> late January 2007.
> 
> The ARRL will provide any additional information on
> these important
> Part 97 rule revisions as it becomes available.
> NNNN
> /EX
> 
> 
>
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