"KØHB" ) writes:
"amateur" wrote

Does this mean the guys that have the basic qualification
now would have to go back and rewrite to get HF privilege ?

Not in most cases.

As I read it, you are authorized HF access as of today, without further testing,
if...

1) ...you got your Basic certificate before April 2, 2002.
2) ...if you got your Basic certificate after April 2, 2002 AND at a score
of 80% or higher.
3) ...if you got your Basic certificate after April 2, 2002 at a score lower
than 80% AND pass a 5WPM Morse exam

If you have the advanced license, that also gives you HF privileges with this
new change.

The retaking the test is only if someone didn't receive the 80% pass mark but
want HF and fits none of the above four possibilities.

The RAC bulletin reads like only if you were licensed before April 2, 2002
that you automatically get HF privileges. But on reading the Canadian
Gazette entry on this,
http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/epic/inter.../sf08435e.html
it seems less clearcut.

They start off with the bit about before April 2, 2002:
(2) Amateurs certified prior to April 2, 2002 will be allowed to
operate in the HF bands below 30 MHz based on the experience and
knowledge they have acquired over this period of time.

But then further down:
Amateurs holding a Basic Certificate who have been certified for at
least three years will automatically receive authority to operate in
the HF bands. This is based on the rationale that three years of
experience will have allowed the amateur to acquire sufficient
experience to operate proficiently in the HF bands. Amateurs who
received their Basic Certificate within the three year interval prior
to the date of the new standards will be required to prove that they
had attained a mark of at least 80%.

Those two paragraphs don't fully mesh. The first is a hardcoding of
a date, but the second suggests that all one needs is a 3 year waiting
period. I'm not sure which takes control.

Michael VE2BVW