FCC Eliminates Code Requirements for Amateur Licenses

Technocrat

FCC Eliminates Code Requirements for Amateur Licenses

WmHPowell

Fri Dec 15 17:58:26 -0800 2006

Amateur+Radio.

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Late this afternoon the FCC issued a Report and Order and that eliminates the Morse Code requirement from all Amateur Radio licenses.

Late this afternoon the FCC announced that they had adopted a Report and Order and that modifies the rules for the Amateur Radio Service by revising the examination requirements for obtaining a General Class or Amateur Extra Class amateur radio operator license and revising the operating privileges for Technician Class licensees. In essence this R&O eliminates CW requirements for all classes of Amateur Radio licensing.
In addition, the Order resolves a petition filed by the American Radio Relay League, Inc. (ARRL) for partial reconsideration of an FCC Order on amateur service rules released on October 10, 2006 in which the ARRL argued that the 75 m band should not have been expanded below 3635 kHz, in order to protect automatically controlled digital stations operating in the 3620 - 3635 kHz portion of the 80 m band. The FCC, in essence, denied the ARRL petition by concluding thet digital operation can be adequately accomodated in the 3585 - 3600 kHz frequency segment..
Apparently, the R&O is effective immediately since there is no indication of an effective date other than that of the R&O.
View the FCC decision at: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-269012A1.pdf

FCC Eliminates Code Requirements for Amateur Licenses

Bruce Perens

Fri Dec 15 19:44:02 -0800 2006
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Woo hoo! Wow, that was a long fight. Especially at the end when nothing happened for years while FCC sat on the report and order. We all knew we'd won, but had no idea when.
Bruce

Clearly the right thing to do...

the_rajah

Fri Dec 15 20:53:03 -0800 2006
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Congratulations to all who have worked hard and long to make this happen. I'm sure that this will contribute greatly to a new resurgence of the king of hobbies. It's been a great hobby for me for 48 years...and counting. It's taken me places I'd never imagined I'd go.

--... ...-- to all..

FCC Eliminates Code Requirements for Amateur Licenses

Charles E Hill

Sat Dec 16 06:03:10 -0800 2006
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I really haven't followed the arguments on this one, so maybe someone can summarize it without starting a holy war.

WTF was the big deal about 5 WPM of CW? We aren't talking doing differential equations in your head or anything like that.

Charles
N3DEY
[DXCC in CW]

FCC Eliminates Code Requirements for Amateur Licenses

Charles E Hill

Sat Dec 16 06:05:43 -0800 2006
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Sorry, the explanation is in Bruce's article above.

FCC Eliminates Code Requirements for Amateur Licenses

WmHPowell

Fri Dec 15 20:04:26 -0800 2006
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UPDATE:
Apparently an R&O goes into effect 30 days after being published in the Federal Register.
ARRL spin at: http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2006/12/15/104/?nc=1

FCC Eliminates Code Requirements for Amateur Licenses

Christopher Culver

Sun Dec 17 20:08:17 -0800 2006
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There's not been any resurgence of amateur radio in the countries which have already abolished code, why do many proponents believe that doing this in the U.S. will lead to some sort of renaissance?

FWIW, I left the hobby about eight years ago after two years of heavy HF activity. I got tired of not being able to have interesting friendships with other hams, as they often lacked any academic qualifications and didn't share any hobbies with me besides amateur radio. Plus, far too many hams are either incapable of holding a conversation, or stick to a strict interpretation of the regs that ham communication can be only exchanging technical trivia. I still see a point for the hobby, as it is useful in emergency situations. But in this day of the Internet, when one can make distant friends with the security that they won't be boring, I don't see the attraction of dedicating so much of their days to CQing instead of just ensuring from time to time that one's equipment is in good repair.