After more than two years of work, the ARRL’s Entry-Level Licensing Committee made its recommendation to the ARRL Board, and on February 28, 2108, the ARRL submitted a formal Petition for Rulemaking. In a nutshell, the proposal asks the FCC to give Techs:
- phone privileges at 3.900 to 4.000 MHz, 7.225 to 7.300 MHz, and 21.350 to 21.450 MHz.
- RTTY and digital privileges in current Technician allocations on 80, 40, 15, and 10 meters.
Now, the FCC is asking for comments on this proposal, which has the official designation RM-11828. You can file your comment by going to the FCC website.
I’m not against this proposal, but personally, I don’t think that this proposal is going to have the effect that the ARRL is hoping for. In the news story announcing the call for comments, the ARRL writes:
Now numbering some 384,500, Technician licensees comprise more than half of the US Amateur Radio population. ARRL stressed in its petition the urgency of making the license more attractive to newcomers, in part to improve upon science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, “that inescapably accompanies a healthy, growing Amateur Radio Service.”
Doesn’t this seem contradictory? The Tech license is already the most popular category of license. How is giving Techs more HF privileges going to make it more popular? And, with HF phone and digital privileges, won’t fewer Techs feel the need to upgrade?
Bruce, K1BG, has done some wonderful research on entry-level licensing, and he recently gave a presentation on this topic to ARROW, our club here in Ann Arbor. You can see the slides from his presentation on the ARROW website.
If you ask me, the conclusion to be drawn from this research is that what we need is a new version of the Novice license, not a Tech license with more privileges. Take a look at the slide, “What Worked, What Didn’t?” in K1BG’s presentation. It seems to me that what we’re getting with this latest proposal is more of what didn’t work than what did work.
I guess a new Novice license is not in the cards, though. I’ve got some half-baked ideas on this subject. (When don’t I, right?) I’ll be writing some more about this in the future.
Ed Jones K8MEJ says
I don’t see any harm with the expanded Technician proposals, but I also don’t think it’s going to make any significant difference in bringing in new hams. Anyone with the smallest amount of technical accumen can understand the material and pass the Tech exam. It only takes slightly more to pass the General exam. Understand and passing the Extra exam is truly incentive-based.
If the primary goal is to attract youth to the hobby, then a Novice style license (time limited, etc) makes sense to me. A young person could be assigned a mentor ham, who could guide them through a curriculum over a period of time and sign off on their skills for the Novice exam and then help prepare them for General. We could even eliminate the Technician class for new licensees. There would have to be some sort of youth protection programs put in place (background checks, etc) similar to what scouting programs or other youth-oriented programs require in order to have this assignment of mentors for Novices. Is the ARRL willing to sponsor and fund that? What about the majority of hams who don’t belong to the ARRL? How do we initiate the pairing of Novice to elmer?
Personally, I don’t see the FCC having any appetite to make any further changes. I don’t think they care one whit about the Amateur Service except to make sure we don’t interfere with commercial or government wireless services. I hate to be this cynical, but I don’t see the FCC willing to make the changes to the Technician licensing that the ARRL proposes, and I certainly don’t see them willing to add another license class (Novice). We can talk about advancing the art of radio, emergency communications, etc. but I don’t think the FCC really believes any of it. I would be happy to be wrong!
Ed Jones K8MEJ says
I should have added that it’s easy for me to poke holes in these ideas, but not so easy to come up with ideas to recruit young people. I would like to see the ARRL put programs in place to have local hams work with local youth organizations to recruit them. This could be via scouting organizations, STEM programs in middle and high schools, etc. There should be a goal to have one amateur licensed teacher in every middle and high school who can introduce radio communications into the curriculum and start up a club (with help of local hams). There are certainly even better ideas than mine out there. This is where I’d like to see the ARRL invest time and money. If we make more hams, and a larger percentage of them are represented by the ARRL, then perhaps the FCC will begin to care more about us.
Chuck Till says
Will the proposal help more Technicians to get on the air and to progress to a General or Extra? I don’t know that it will. I’m not tooth-and-nail opposed to the proposal, but I have two concerns. One, digital modes like FT8 are not easy to set up correctly. The proposal would merely change the entry hurdle for Technicians on HF from learning CW to learning how to interface a computer to an HF transceiver. That’s no simplification. Two, FT8 40 and 80 are bloody crowded already in the evenings.
If instead we give Technicians phone privileges in small parts of 40 and 80, both of my concerns would go away and Technicians would find it easier to get on HF — without impeding the rest of us.
Janis Carson AB2RA says
There is an easy method step by step to file on RM-11828. It is posted at:
Simple method for short comments
http://wireless-girl.com/HowToFile11828Express.html
Method for uploading longer documents
http://wireless-girl.com/HowToFile11828STD.html
It takes less than 10 minutes, even for someone who has never filed with FCC before.
Sean Ray says
I think the Tech privilege enhancement would be a great “lure” for new prospects to ham radio as a hobby, we must accommodate folks that see our hobby as archaic, because there are too many distractions in technology and stress of just making a living. Also, the more HF rigs the manufactures sell, the better the competition and the less expensive the rigs become. I would love to show folks this new “lure” to get them interested in a license.
K4HCK Cale says
While studying for my Tech I was very disappointed to learn that I wouldn’t be able to run digital modes on HF. That was my single reason for getting a license. That prompted me to also study for the General.
I’m curious how many people hit that barrier and don’t take the Tech test to begin with. On the other hand, if this new Tech license were in place at the time, I might never have upgraded to General.
I’d ask where the value lies. Is there more value in having more people licensed with more access to spectrum and activities, or is there more value in pushing people through a multi-tier upgrade path that limits access and serves as a barrier to entry?
Todd KD0TLS says
First, you can’t compare “what worked” decades ago with what will work in the future. Once upon a time, horses ‘worked’ for most people and bows ‘worked’ for the military. If you can’t comprehend how the internet and cell phones radically altered the communications landscape, then you have no business plotting the future of the hobby. People didn’t take an interest in CB in the ’70s because they were fascinated with two-way radio. It was because cell phones didn’t exist. Likewise with the Novice licence and phone patches. This is why the ARRL focus is now on “when all else fails” — because the relevance of the hobby has become severely undermined by the current technological context. In the same way, you can point to horses still being used by some and pretend that it isn’t an anomaly or simple recreation.
Second, the ARRL proposal is based on the misguided (but popular) assumption that simply everyone craves HF operation, and that life without it is a hollow disappointment. Developments in satcom are making the attractions of HF less alluring. And, possibly, fewer people are interested in “making contacts” in favour of interesting conversations. Soon, a Tech will be able to have 24/7 ragchews across the continent without a tower/big antenna and without regard for propagation simply by using a small satellite dish.
Third, there seems to be this unexamined assumption that the most popular Class (Technician) is some kind of ghetto for idiots and losers, and that the world would be a better place if they all just upgraded to General Class.
Let’s look at another licenced activity: driving. Most drivers are Class D. They do not crave the privileges of driving a semi tractor-trailer. Those that *are* interested in that are not daunted by licensing requirements. Yet, no State engages in a “let’s pretend” belief that it’s everyone’s *job* to advance their skills to master driving a semi, nor do they pretend that civilisation would be vastly improved by the ability of all licensed drivers to operate a semi tractor-trailer. And the AAA does not see its role as promoting supposed “idiot” Class D drivers to the glories of Class A drivers with endorsements to haul hazardous materials. Further, few of us lowly Class D drivers see semi drivers as some kind of intellectual elite, occupying dizzying heights of achievement that we, in our ignorance, could not dream to attain.
I’m a Tech by choice. I could easily get my General licence, but I don’t want those privileges. Yet, I constantly find my putative “superiors” speaking to me as if I am some kind of retarded child, in their kindly way. No matter what I say, it gets twisted into a desperate desire to join them in their lofty realm, and any innocuous observation gets turned into a desperate “cry for help”.
Maybe this condescending attitude from well-meaning, but misguided, hams is responsible for the decline of the hobby. Few responsible, intelligent adults enjoy being treated like dim-witted failures, no matter how our “superiors” try to conceal their pity for our ignorance. Maybe a lot of people are happy with being Techs, and don’t appreciate people trying to “save” us. Maybe a lot of people don’t look forward to the day when they can look down on others with kind disdain.
Ever considered that?
Harry Vaderci says
Sadly, I have to say ‘Follow the money”.
Giving away low band privileges means the sale of more equipment and advertising dollars for ham organizations. There will be no incentive to advance to General or Extra class.
bob CAPOZZI says
IT ALL COMES DOWN TO MONEY……….THEY DO WHAT IT TAKES TO KEEP
ADVERTISERS…….GIVE THE TECH A FREE UP GRADE AND THEY WILL BUY MORE GEAR
DONT REWARD THE ADV OR GEN THEY WOUNT BUY ANYTHING NEW
THER REELING IN THE FCC TO DO WHAT THEY CANT DO.
Bill says
Since anyone who can memorize the question pools for the various classes of licences need not know anything about electronics, there is nothing but false prestige in having an advanced license.
I could have had a ham license in junior high school but I saw no reason to learn Morse code when I had no interest in using it. Then I got a First Class Radiotelephone License instead of a First Class Radiotelegraph License. If technical knowledge is a prerequisite for any kind of telecommunications licensing, then the privileges should be based on technical proficiency instead of the individual’s ability in rote memorization. Those with a GROL should automatically get the Extra as a professional courtesy. I’ll not be waiting for an Extra when I have yet to have a good reason to become a operational Technician instead of a SWL with a GROL and a Technician, in addition to 12 years of hands on experience in telecom from two-way radio to broadcasting.
Cliff says
I agree with you. Both my sons are techs. One is PhD and the other masters, both in electrical engineering. What they do with amateur radio is unrecognizable to me, and I suspect would be to many other hams.
It involves routers and Linux based jury rigged computers. It also involves home brew antennas and lots of custom software coding. They are not interested in phone, not even on vhf. They send and receive data. They tell me that my CW is hipster “cool” in such a manner that says, “how cute, with your buggy whip communication.” HIHI So I go about playing with my toys while they advance the art into its inevitable future.
I passed the extra test on the latest exam bank. It is heavily biased toward digital signal processing. Glad that the “kids” were able to explain these concepts to their old dad.
Ghastly thought! What if all existing licensees were required to re-certify on the latest exam bank OR be corralled into a reduced privilege, old fogies band portion!!!
Should we leave well enough alone?
Tony Everhardt says
A few years ago Toledo Mobile Radio Association filed by ourselves a petition on behalf of the Tech Class to allow the Tech class more hf privileges. TMRA did this on our own because the ARRL would not back us. Now a few years later the ARRL comes up with this great idea of getting more privileges to the Tech Class. But now the ARRL is adding more freq’s than what TMRA’s petition asked for. The FCC denied TMRA’s petition. Now that it’s the ARRL’s great idea I bet the FCC accepts this proposal. Which they should no matter who’s idea it was.
Walter says
I think adding HF digital to the Technician license is great.
I wonder if we’d get some inexpensive, specialized HF rigs like the PSK-20 that Small Wonder Labs used to make? That was a single frequency USB transceiver kit. Make something like that for 40 and/or 15. Maybe a small tuning range for different mode frequencies. Or hey, use a different crystal for each one!
I don’t think it will be as big a market as the Novice rigs were, but it could be a lot of fun.
keith spears says
The level of privilege has always been a part of the testing. Giving in to not testing new ham operators for that privilege show the willingness to not become knowledgeable or the rules for extra amateur operations. the ham frequencies were made for the level or knowledge. If you want to be at the top, you have to study. The test book is a start to knowing how to conduct yourself on the ham bands. The main thing I notice is not giving the call sign every 10 minutes.
Dave New, N8SBE says
I see an influx of Technicians operating digital modes (likely primarily FT8 or whatever comes after) on HF, using low-cost entry-level transceivers like the uBITx or the upcoming QSX from QRPLabs. It’s amazing what you can accomplish with a handful of watts and a compromise antenna, using those modes and bands.
For those Technicians that proudly proclaim that they aren’t interested in HF, don’t knock it till you’ve tried it. Otherwise, it is tantamount to complaining about a movie you’ve never seen. You simply have no standing.
David Gregory says
Anyone interested in Amateur radio can get any class license that they are willing to put in the effort required. Amateur radio is not for everyone, accept the fact. Why does it have to be for everyone? Giving away unearned privileges accomplishes nothing to further the quality of the hobby or enhance the interest in science. The ARRL is selling out privileges trying to get more members for advertising and power . True, there is strength in numbers, but many changes have already been made to enhance our members. I think enough is enough. Leave it alone.
jeff fox says
I think it’s great being a technician license holder when 10 meters is never open
Greg says
I think KD0TLS hit the nail on the head. I upgraded because I wanted to. Yet I find I have lots more ragchews on 2 meters of late than HF, Yet I still get a rise out of fading signals. To each his own.
Greg
KJ4DGE