On Jun 12, 5:37�am, Jeffrey Angus wrote:

I'm kind of at a loss to see what his point was.

I think he had the idea to update the Basis and Purpose section, which
hasn't been changed much if at all since it was added to the regs in
1951.

Fun fact: Back in 1951, ARRL opposed the addition of the B&P to the
regs. It was an FCC idea, and IIRC all radio services got such
sections.

Part of it feels like this:
"Everything that can be invented has been invented."

Charles Duell, Commissioner of US Patent Office, 1899 ;-)

I see it more as an acceptance of reality that many if not most hams
today don't build their own rigs, even from kits. And that our other
roles have changed over the years.

And part of this feels like a kind of end run to include
Morse code as part of the basis and purpose of the ARS.

Personally, I think it's the latter.

"through preservation of the history of the radio art"

I don't really see that, but if so, what's the harm? It's clear FCC
won't even consider bringing back any form of Morse Code testing,
except possibly to add some technical questions to the written tests.
(Which would be a good thing, btw, if the questions are about things
like necessary/occupied bandwidth of various modes).

"Preservation of the history" could also be interpreted to mean things
like mode-specific subbands for AM and other modes, relaxation of some
technical requirements for older gear (spurs, chirp, hum), reversion
to the old 1 kW input rule at the option of the ham, etc.

I think the FCC did the right thing.

I don't see that the proposal changed 97.1 all that much. Also, not
being able to produce the exact dates of things such as when the B&P
were added might not have impressed the Commission.

If I read the calendar correctly, it took FCC seven months to decide
not to go anywhere with the proposal.

I was kind of disappointed that FCC didn't even put it up for
comments. But I think FCC prefers that hams present fully-developed
proposals with evidence of strong support in the amateur radio
community.

73 de Jim, N2EY