BRATS The Milliwatt ARRL
The award-winning monthly publication of
The Baltimore Radio Amateur Television Society
P.O.Box 5915 Baltimore, MD 21282-5915

September, 2005

 

Attention All Amateurs ...
FCC Proposes to Drop Morse Code Requirement for All License Classes

(Jul 20, 2005) -- 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 recommended the change to its Part 97 Amateur Service rules in a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) in WT Docket 05-235. Any rule changes proposed in the NPRM would not become final until the FCC gathers additional public comments, formally adopts any changes to its rules and concludes the proceeding by issuing a Report and Order (R&O) spelling out the changes and specifying an effective date. That's not likely to happen for several months. The FCC declined in its NPRM to go forward with any other suggested changes to Amateur Service licensing rules or operating privileges beyond elimination of the Morse requirement. [ARRL Web Extra]

NCVEC Plans No Formal Reaction to FCC Rule Making Proposals

Meeting July 22, the National Conference of Volunteer Examiner Coordinators (NCVEC) offered no public reaction to the FCC's recent Notice of Proposed Rule Making and Order (NPRM&O) and does not appear inclined to file formal comments either. The NPRM&O endorsed eliminating the Morse code requirement for all amateur license classes--something the NCVEC had asked for in its 2003 Petition for Rule Making— but it turned away an NCVEC proposal to give current Technicians HF privileges. Although the 12 VECs represented at the organization's annual gathering in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, expressed general disappointment, the NCVEC indicated no plans to file formal comments with the Commission as an organization in response to the NPRM&O and instead urged individual VECs to comment on their own.

Hundreds File Comments on FCC Morse Proposal

Hundreds already have filed comments via the FCC's Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS) on the Commission's recent proposal to eliminate the Morse code requirement for all license classes. A formal 60-day comment period starts once the FCC's Notice of Proposed Rule Making and Order (NPRM&O) in WT Docket 05-235 appears in the Federal Register, but all comments filed now are valid nonetheless. Issued in response to 18 petitions for rule making--including one from the ARRL--the FCC's NPRM&O, released July 19, dealt only with the Morse requirement and turned away all other proposed rule changes. A random sampling of the more than 360 comments filed at this point suggests the tide is running firmly in favor of the FCC's stance. Some even praised the Commission.

October BRATS Meeting
Tuesday, October 11, 7:30 PM Pikesville Library
Special Program and Speaker: Jeremy Bair, K2ORX
on IRLP: What is it? How it works. How is it different from EchoLink?
Interactive demonstration, bring your HT.

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