"Bill Sohl" wrote in message ...
"N2EY" wrote in message
...

(massive snippage for sanity's sake)

Allow me to rephrase:

....the USA is still acting *internally* as if the old treaty is still in
force.

IOW, the VEs are still giving code tests, and FCC won't allow any hams to
operate on the HF/MF ham bands unless those hams pass a code test.

The fact that there's a new one awaiting ratification doesn't make
the old one and its requirements immediately disappear.

That's only true to the extent that any specific country has their own
ratification process...and failure to ratify by one or more
countries does NOT nullify the new treaty.

Agreed. But as far as FCC rules are concerned, the old treaty is still in
force in the USA. That's my point.

Fair enough...internally only.

Yup - which is 99% of what US hams care about, anyway.

And, as you note above, USA ratification is just a matter of time.

As Carl/WK3C predicted, the whole deal was/is a "slam dunk". Really
just a matter of waiting for the various bureaucratic gears to turn.
I'm predicting that there won't even be an NPRM or NOI on eliminating
the code test, just a neat little MO&O from FCC very soon after the
treaty is ratified. Bye bye Element 1, game over, thank you for
playing. Or maybe FCC will tack it onto the R&O for the petition to
refarm the Novice/Tech+ subbands. Would be ironic as heck: "No more
code tests, Novices and Techs get lots more HF access on 80, 40 and 15
- but they can only use CW/Morse on those bands". Stranger things have
happened.

--

Stuff like code tests, written tests, technical competence, appliance
operating, hi-fi-ssb and license numbers are all red herrings compared
to the real threats to amateur radio, like BPL, CC&Rs, and
enforcement. Those real threats are where we have to focus our
resources and efforts. What good are licenses, tests and technical
competence out the ying-yang if you can't put up a decent antenna for
any band, and the antennas you *can* put up hear nothing but noise?

73 de Jim, N2EY