On Tue, 29 Jul 2003 23:20:53 -0600, Rod Anderson wrote:

Sorry Dan you and the ARRL forgot to consider the affect of Americans
with Disabilities law, The only reason that the courts have not
thrown out the code requirement is the international treaty required
it, the treaty overuled US laws.

Keep believing that myth....I have a bridge for sale, too.

The only reasons that the courts have not thrown out the code
requirement a

(1) a case has never been brought (Federal courts do not issue
advisory rulings, they require an actual case) because:

(2) FCC requires that suitable accommodations be made for an
applicant's observable or claimed disabilities when tests which do
not otherwise discrimninate are given, and

(3) the Federal courts in a matter such as this require that the
plaintiff exhaust all administrative appeals and in general they
defer to the judgment of the regulatory agencies in the area of the
agency's expertise such as the requirements for a license as long as
the requirements are equitably applied and reasonable accommodations
(see #2 above) are made.

Shortly after the US ratifies the
new treaty which no longer requires the ability to send and receive
code the US courts will throw out the FCC's code requirement.

Nah... even if such a case is brought, any regulatory attorney worth
his/her salt can tie it up pending FCC action in its own sweet time.

The
courts take a dim view of irrelevant requiremnts, you are going to
have a a hard time convincing the courts that ability to receive code
at 5 wpm is necessary requirement to "talk over the radio".

See #3 above.

Morse has much in common with the use of the sliderule. 40 years ago
when I was in school engineers spent several weeks of class studying
the use of the sliderule and logarithms to simplify calculations.

Maybe in your school. In my engineering school - one of the top 3
in the US - one had to know how to use both the sliderule and log
tables in order to be admitted, which for me was 50 years ago next
month....

I have better ways to spend my time than studying Morse code but I
still can find the power of a number using a log log slide rule

K+E Log Log Duplex Vector -- I take it out once a year to prove to
my computer-geek son that I can still do it.....

But as to communications law....leave that to us attorney
specialists. This is MY field.

--
73 de K2ASP - Phil Kane
Registered Professsional Engineer

Principal Attorney
Communications Law Center
San Francisco, CA

From a Clearing in the Silicon Forest
Beaverton (Washington County) Oregon