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ARRL requests expanded HF privileges for Technician licensees

Posted: 01 Mar 2018 10:27 AM PST
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SB QST @ ARL $ARLB007

ARLB007 ARRL Requests Expanded HF Privileges for Technician Licensees

ZCZC AG07

QST de W1AW

ARRL Bulletin 7 ARLB007

From ARRL Headquarters

Newington CT March 1, 2018

To all radio amateurs

SB QST ARL ARLB007

ARLB007 ARRL Requests Expanded HF Privileges for Technician Licensees

ARRL has asked the FCC to expand HF privileges for Technician licensees to
include limited phone privileges on 75, 40, and 15 meters, plus RTTY and
digital mode privileges on 80, 40, 15, and 10 meters. The FCC has not yet
invited public comment on the proposals, which stem from recommendations
put forth by the ARRL Board of Directors Entry-Level License Committee,
which explored various initiatives and gauged member opinions in 2016 and
2017.

This action will enhance the available license operating privileges in what
has become the principal entry-level license class in the Amateur Service,
ARRL said in its Petition. It will attract more newcomers to Amateur Radio,
it will result in increased retention of licensees who hold Technician
Class licenses, and it will provide an improved incentive for entry-level
licensees to increase technical self-training and pursue higher license
class achievement and development of communications skills.

Specifically, ARRL proposes to provide Technician licensees, present and
future, with phone privileges at 3.900 to 4.000 MHz, 7.225 to 7.300 MHz,
and 21.350 to 21.450 MHz, plus RTTY and digital privileges in current
Technician allocations on 80, 40, 15, and 10 meters. The ARRL petition
points out the explosion in popularity of various digital modes over the
past 2 decades. Under the ARRL plan, the maximum HF power level for
Technician operators would remain at 200 W PEP. The few remaining Novice
licensees would gain no new privileges under the Leagues proposal.

ARRLs petition points to the need for compelling incentives not only to
become a radio amateur in the first place, but then to upgrade and further
develop skills. Demographic and technological changes call for a periodic
rebalancing between those two objectives, the League maintains.

There has not been such a rebalancing in many years, ARRL said in its
petition. It is time to do that now. The FCC has not assessed entry-level
operating privileges since 2005.

The Entry-Level License Committee offered very specific data and
survey-supported findings about growth in Amateur Radio and its place in
the advanced technological demographic that includes individuals younger
than 30. It received significant input from ARRL members via more than
8,000 survey responses.

The Committees analysis noted that today, Amateur Radio exists among many
more modes of communication than it did half a century ago, or even 20
years ago, ARRL said in its petition.

Now numbering some 378,000, Technician licensees comprise more than half of
the US Amateur Radio population. ARRL said that after 17 years of
experience with the current Technician license as the gateway to Amateur
Radio, its urgent to make it more attractive to newcomers, in part to
improve upon science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)
education that inescapably accompanies a healthy, growing Amateur Radio
Service, ARRL asserted.

ARRL said its proposal is critical to developing improved operating skills,
increasing emergency communication participation, improving technical
self-training, and boosting overall growth in the Amateur Service, which
has remained nearly inert at about 1% per year.

The Entry-Level License Committee determined that the current Technician
class question pool already covers far more material than necessary for an
entry-level exam to validate expanded privileges. ARRL told the FCC that it
would continue to refine examination preparation and training materials
aimed at STEM topics, increase outreach and recruitment, work with Amateur
Radio clubs, and encourage educational institutions to utilize Amateur
Radio in STEM and other experiential learning programs.

ARRL requests that the Commission become a partner in this effort to
promote Amateur Radio as a public benefit by making the very nominal
changes proposed herein in the Technician class license operating
privileges, the petition concluded.

NNNN

/EX

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