"Alun Palmer" wrote in message
...
"Carl R. Stevenson" wrote in
:

"Bert Craig" wrote in message
...
Here's a question. Forgive me if it appears trollish, but I gotta ask.

Is there any individual or dept. within the FCC that folks can send
e-mails to in support of retaining the 5-wpm exam? Or, for instance,
all Techs would automatically get Novice/Tech+ privies while Element 1
is retained for General and Extra?

Or is it a forgone conclusion that the FCC WILL drop Element 1 despite
any volume of sentiments to the contrary?

Bert,

Back a few years ago, when the FCC issued its Report and Order
"restructuring" the ARS, the ONLY reason they gave for keeping
ANY Morse testing at that time was the requirement in S25.5 of
the ITU Radio Regs.

Now that that is gone, all of the countries of the world are free to
drop Morse testing from their national rules.

While I think it's a fairly good bet that the FCC WILL drop Morse
testing, frankly, I don't see the FCC acting on this in any sort of
"automatic"
or "self-initiated" way ... the status quo is 5 wpm for General and
Extra.

And, since there is currently no petition or open docket item at the
FCC proposing to make any such changes, letters and e-mails would, at
this point,
most likely be considered an unwarranted annoyance by the FCC staffers
who would have to deal with them. (and no matter what our respective
views on code/no-code, I don't think that ANY of us want the ARS
to be viewed as being a thorn in the FCC's side ...)

I remember a few years back when the ARRL got the amateur community
all fired up over "little LEOs trying to take the 2m band" ... the
result was
a firestorm of e-mails to the FCC that overloaded their servers and
cause them great difficulty in conducting normal business ... something
that they DEFINITELY did NOT appreciate!

I'm sure that the amateur community will get notice when this question
finally does come up at the FCC ... THAT will be the time to comment
(when they ASK for comments). In the meantime, a major mail/e-mail
"blitz" on the FCC will almost certainly harm the standing of the ARS
as a whole at the FCC.

73,


Bert, as I see it the basic facts are these:

1)The FCC won't respond to anything filed before congress has ratified the
new treaty (no point approaching congress, though, as that part will be a
rubber stamp excercise);

And even if congress failed to ratify it would change nothing
in the ITU treaty. In fact, if congress doesn't
ratify, then the USA would simply NOT be a participant
in the treaty. The former treaty is, as of 7/5/03, null and void.

2)Everyone and his dog will then file petitions to restructure the Amateur
service. You could file one too;

Maybe. Time will tell.

3)This will be followed by requests for comments, and you could then file
yours too.

Not necessarily. Since the FCC already stated (in R&O 98-143)
that code was only retained because of the S25.5 requirement, it is possible
for the FCC to just drop Element 1 altogether based solely on
prior consideration.

The bottom line is yes, there's still plenty of recourse, but not yet, and
very little chance they won't dump element 1 completely anyway (see the
previous poster's explanation).

Agree.

If you want to petition for all Techs getting Tech+ privileges, or file a
comment to that effect, that may be worthwhile, all the same.

Cheers,
Bill K2UNK