SB QST @ ARL $ARLB003
ARLB003 ARRL to Propose New
Entry-Level License, Code-Free HF Access
ZCZC AG03
QST de W1AW
ARRL Bulletin 3 ARLB003
From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT January 20, 2004
To all radio amateurs
SB QST ARL ARLB003
ARLB003 ARRL to Propose New
Entry-Level License, Code-Free HF Access
The ARRL will ask the FCC to
create a new entry-level Amateur Radio
license that would include
HF phone privileges without requiring a
Morse code test. The League
also will propose consolidating all
current licensees into three
classes, retaining the Element 1 Morse
requirement--now 5 WPM-only
for the highest class. The ARRL Board of
Directors overwhelmingly
approved the plan January 16 during its
Annual Meeting in Windsor,
Connecticut. The proposals--developed by
the ARRL Executive Committee
following a Board instruction last
July--are in response to
changes made in Article 25 of the
international Radio
Regulations at World Radiocommunication
Conference 2003 (WRC-03).
They would continue a process of
streamlining the amateur
licensing structure that the FCC began more
than five years ago but left
unfinished in the Amateur Service
license restructuring Report
and Order (WT 98-143) that went into
effect April 15, 2000.
''Change in the Amateur
Radio Service in the US, especially license
requirements and even more
so when Morse is involved, has always
been emotional,'' said ARRL
First Vice President Joel Harrison, W5ZN,
in presenting the Executive
Committee's recommendations. ''In fact,
without a doubt, Morse is
Amateur Radio's 'religious debate.'''
The entry-level license
class--being called ''Novice'' for now--would
require a 25-question
written exam. It would offer limited HF
CW/data and phone/image
privileges on 80, 40, 15 and 10 meters as
well as VHF and UHF
privileges on 6 and 2 meters and on 222-225 and
430-450 MHz. Power output
would be restricted to 100 W on 80, 40,
and 15 meters and to 50 W on
10 meters and up.
''The Board sought to
achieve balance in giving new Novice licensees
the opportunity to sample a
wider range of Amateur Radio activity
than is available to current
Technicians while retaining a
motivation to upgrade,''
said ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ. Under the
ARRL plan, current Novice
licensees--now the smallest and least
active group of radio
amateurs--would be grandfathered to the new
entry-level class without
further testing.
The middle group of
licensees--Technician, Tech Plus (Technician
with Element 1 credit) and
General--would be merged into a new
General license that also
would not require a Morse examination.
Current Technician and Tech
Plus license holders automatically would
gain current General class
privileges without additional testing.
The current Element 3
General examination would remain in place for
new applicants.
The Board indicated that it
saw no compelling reason to change the
Amateur Extra class license
requirements. The ARRL plan calls on the
FCC to combine the current
Advanced and Amateur Extra class
licensees into Amateur
Extra, because the technical level of the
exams passed by these
licensees is very similar. New applicants for
Extra would have to pass a 5
WPM Morse code examination, but the
written exam would stay the
same. Sumner said the Board felt that
the highest level of
accomplishment should include basic Morse
capability. Current Novice,
Tech Plus and General licensees would
receive lifetime 5 WPM Morse
credit.
''This structure provides a
true entry-level license with HF
privileges to promote growth
in the Amateur Service,'' Harrison said.
Among other advantages,
Sumner said the plan would allow new Novices
to participate in HF SSB
emergency nets on 75 and 40 meters as well
as on the top 100 kHz of 15
meters. The new license also could get
another name, Sumner said.
''We're trying to recapture the magic of
the old Novice license, but
in a manner that's appropriate for the
21st century.''
The overall proposed ARRL
license restructuring plan would more
smoothly integrate HF
spectrum privileges across the three license
classes and would
incorporate the ''Novice refarming'' plan the League
put forth nearly two years
ago in a Petition for Rule Making
(RM-10413). The FCC has not
yet acted on the ARRL plan, which would
alter current HF subbands.
The ARRL license
restructuring design calls for no changes in
privileges for Extra and
General class licensees on 160, 60, 30, 20,
17 or 12 meters. Novice
licensees would have no access to those
bands.
See ''ARRL to Propose New
Entry-Level License, Code-Free HF Access''
on the ARRL Web site,
www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/01/19/1/, for
the specific subband
allocations ARRL is proposing for each class.
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