*December 13, 2016 – For immediate release*

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED), formerly
Industry Canada, has issued a revised version of *RIC-3, Information on the
Amateur Radio Service*. It replaces RIC-3 Version 3 that was released in
July 2005. Radio Amateurs of Canada welcomes the change as it addresses
several long-standing issues pointed out by RAC in the past where the
document required updating to address changes in technologies and
practices, notably the decision by many administrations to remove the
requirement for Morse code qualification for new Radio Amateurs. The new
version of RIC-3 can be found online at:
http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/smt-gst...g/sf01008.html

The new document contains several editorial changes (such as the change in
the name of the Department) and clarifications regarding the operating
privileges granted to holders of the Basic qualifications. Over recent
years there have been questions about which qualification is required by
Canadian Radio Amateurs to modify a commercial transceiver to operate on
Amateur bands. Those with Advanced certification could certainly make any
sort of modification as they are allowed to design and build transmitters.
The new RIC-3 makes it clear that the privileges of those holding Basic
certifications includes:

"re-programming of radio equipment to operate in the Amateur Bands if this
can be done by a computer program. *Note:* No physical modifications to
the circuitry of the radio are permitted."


RAC had urged that the limitation of the restriction of remote control of
Amateur Radio stations to those with Advanced qualification be relaxed as
changes in transceiver design have made remote control over the Internet
much simpler than in the past and so the higher technical qualification of
Advanced was not essential. We believe that those with Basic should have
this privilege but ISED has not yet agreed. Dealing with regulations and
their interpretation is an ongoing activity where several rounds of
discussion are often required to achieve results.

The document also drops the outdated requirement for visiting American
Radio Amateurs to have demonstrated CW proficiency to be able to operate HF
phone in Canada. The World Radiocommunication Conference of 2003 agreed
that CW need not be required for Amateur Radio licensing and the USA
dropped the CW requirement for Amateur Radio licences in 2007 after the
previous RIC-3 was published.

The major change to the document relates to reciprocal operating
privileges, in particular those provided in a European intergovernmental
agreement developed through a European telecommunications committee
(referred to by its French acronym CEPT) that has grown to include several
non-European countries.

Canada is a signatory to the CEPT T/R 61-01 reciprocal operating agreement,
under which Canadian Amateurs who have a CEPT permit issued in Canada may
operate in European countries during temporary visits. This agreement has
undergone various revisions over the years notably to acknowledge the
removal of CW qualification as a requirement for Amateur Radio
authorization in many countries, and after negotiations between ISED and
CEPT, the rules for Canadian participation have been updated to follow
suit. There have been two major changes as a result: (1) There will no
longer be two classes of CEPT permit depending on the holding of a Morse
code qualification. Although Morse code is no longer a requirement for the
CEPT permit, any such qualifications will still be noted on the permit for
use in countries that still require Morse code for access to HF; (2) After
conducting a comparison study of the syllabus for Canadian and CEPT
examinations, CEPT has determined that only Canadian Amateurs who hold an
Advanced qualification will be eligible for reciprocal operating privileges
under CEPT T/R 61-01. Therefore, effective immediately, and as described in
RIC-3, CEPT permits will only be issued to Amateurs with an Advanced
qualification. Canadian Amateurs who have the requisite qualifications may
submit requests for CEPT permits to RAC as described at:
http://wp.rac.ca/study-guides-2/regu.../cept-permits/

Canada is a party to another intergovernmental agreement, the *Inter-Americ
an
Convention on an International Amateur Radio Permit
http://www.oas.org/juridico/english/treaties/a-62.html* that provides
reciprocal operating privileges to Radio Amateurs of one country that signs
on to this agreement when they visit other countries that have also joined
the agreement. At the meeting of national Amateur Radio organizations in
Chile in October, Radio Amateurs of Canada and other similar organizations
in our hemisphere agreed to encourage their governments to update this
agreement. At last week's meeting of the Canadian Amateur Radio Advisory
Board (CARAB), RAC was told that at a recent meeting of representatives of
governments of the Americas, the Inter-American Telecommunication
Commission (CITEL), delegates agreed to update the agreement. We expect
this will be done in the summer of 2017.

Any questions regarding these changes may be directed to Richard Ferch,
VE3IAY/VE3KI, RAC Regulatory Affairs Officer at .

*Richard Ferch, VE3IAY/VE3KI*
*RAC Regulatory Affairs Officer*

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*Alan GriffinRAC MarCom Director*

*wp.rac.ca* http://www.rac.ca/
720 Belfast Road, #217
Ottawa, ON K1G 0Z5
613-244-4367, 1- 877-273-8304