From ARRL Headquarters Newington CT July 21, 2005
To all radio amateurs,
The FCC has proposed dropping the 5 WPM Morse code element as a requirement to obtain an Amateur Radio license of any class. The Commission included the recommendation in a July 19 Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) in WT Docket 05-235, but it declined to go along with any other proposed changes to Amateur Service licensing rules or operating privileges. Changes to Part 97 that the FCC proposed in the NPRM would not become final until the Commission gathers additional public comments, formally adopts any new rules and concludes the proceeding with a Report and Order specifying the changes and an effective date. That’s not likely to happen for several months.
“Based upon the petitions and comments, we propose to amend our amateur service rules to eliminate the requirement that individuals pass a telegraphy examination in order to qualify for any amateur radio operator license,” the FCC said. The NPRM consolidated 18 petitions for rule making from the amateur community–including one from the ARRL–that had proposed a wide range of additional changes to the amateur rules. The FCC said the various petitions had attracted 6200 comments from the amateur community, which soon will have the opportunity to comment again–this time on the FCC’s NPRM.
The Commission said it believes dropping the 5 WPM Morse examination would encourage more people to become Amateur Radio operators and would eliminate a requirement that’s “now unnecessary” and may discourage current licensees from advancing their skills. It also said the change would “promote more efficient use” of amateur spectrum.
To support dropping the code requirement, the FCC cited changes in Article 25 of the international Radio Regulations adopted at World Radiocommunication Conference 2003. WRC-03 deleted the Morse testing requirement for amateur applicants seeking HF privileges and left it up to individual countries to determine whether or not they want to mandate Morse testing. Several countries already have dropped their Morse requirements for HF access.
ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, said he was not surprised to see the FCC propose scrapping the Morse requirement altogether, although the League had called for retaining the 5 WPM requirement only for Amateur Extra class applicants. Sumner expressed dismay, however, that the FCC turned away proposals from the League and other petitioners to create a new entry-level Amateur Radio license class.
“We’re disappointed that the Commission prefers to deny an opportunity to give Amateur Radio the restructuring it needs for the 21st century,” he said. “It appears that the Commission is taking the easy road, but the easy road is seldom the right road.”
Sumner said ARRL officials and the Board of Directors will closely study the 30-page NPRM and comment further once they’ve had an opportunity to consider the Commission’s stated rationales for its proposals.
In 2004, the League called on the FCC to create a new entry-level license, reduce the number of actual license classes to three and drop the Morse code testing requirement for all classes except for Amateur Extra. Among other recommendations, the League asked the FCC to automatically upgrade Technician licensees to General and Advanced licensees to Amateur Extra. In this week’s NPRM, the FCC said it was not persuaded such automatic upgrades were in the public interest.
The FCC said it did not believe a new entry-level license class was warranted because current Novice and Tech Plus licensees will easily be able upgrade to General once the code requirement goes away. The Commission also said its “Phone Band Expansion” (or “Omnibus”) NPRM in WT Docket 04-140 already addresses some of the other issues petitioners raised.
A 60-day period for the public to comment on the NPRM in WT 05-235 will begin once the notice appears in the Federal Register. Reply comments will be due within 75 days.
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Editor’s Notes
- I think that even more what this portends for day-to-day amateur radio activities, this is an important NPRM because it practically ignores all of the ARRL’s recommendations. Is this a slap on the wrist from the FCC for all the fuss we’ve kicked up about BPL, or is it an indication of how far the ARRL’s clout has slipped in Washington?
- It’s too bad that the FCC has decided not to create a beginner’s class license. I think the beginner’s class license was a good idea and would have been good for amateur radio. Amateur radio operators, as a whole, are now going to have to work harder to integrate new hams into the fold.
- From a personal point of view I’m dismayed as it appears that I’m not going to be grandfathered into the Extra class after all. I’m actually going to have to study and take the test! :)
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