[nfbwatlk] Fw: ARLB030 FCC to Drop Morse Testing for AllAmateurLicense Classes

[Mike Freeman]

I agree with you completely. Sometimes nothing else gets through like good 
old Morse.

Mike
m
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Alco Canfield" <amcanfield at comcast.net>
To: "NFB of Washington Talk Mailing List" <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 16, 2006 12:21 PM
Subject: Re: [nfbwatlk] Fw: ARLB030 FCC to Drop Morse Testing for 
AllAmateurLicense Classes


I'm sorry about thatl  Even though I don't use it, it seems to me that it
ought to be kept just in case.

Alco
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Freeman" <k7uij at panix.com>
To: "NFB Amateur Radio Group List" <nfb-hams at nfbcal.org>; "NFB of Washington
Talk" <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, December 15, 2006 11:39 PM
Subject: [nfbwatlk] Fw: ARLB030 FCC to Drop Morse Testing for All
AmateurLicense Classes


> Read and weep!
>
> Mike
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "W1AW Mailing List" <w1aw-list-request at listserv.arrl.org>
> To: <k7uij at panix.com>
> Cc: <W1AW List:>
> Sent: Friday, December 15, 2006 7:21 PM
> Subject: ARLB030 FCC to Drop Morse Testing for All Amateur License Classes
>
>
> SB QST @ ARL $ARLB030
> 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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