[Ccarc] FW: ARLB030 FCC to Drop Morse Testing for All Amateur License Classes

[Tom Murray]

>From: "ARRL Web site" <memberlist at www.arrl.org>
>To: kb9wsl at hotmail.com
>CC: Subscribed ARRL Members:;
>Subject: ARLB030 FCC to Drop Morse Testing for All Amateur License Classes
>Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2006 22:21:30 -0500
>
>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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