"Grümwîtch thë Ünflãppåblê"
wrote

That's one story..... here's another floating around over here in EU...

Hey, Barney,

Flap over this one then......

With all kind wishes,

de Hans, K0HB


Commonwealth of Australia
AUSTRALIAN COMMUNICATIONS AUTHORITY

REVIEW OF AMATEUR SERVICE REGULATION

The Australian Communications Authority (ACA) is reviewing regulatory and
licensing arrangements for the amateur service. A discussion paper was
released
in August 2003, and public meetings were held in 10 cities around Australia.
As a result of this extensive public consultation process, the ACA has
decided
to discontinue the Morse code proficiency requirement for the amateur
service.

Background

Article 25 of the Radio Regulations of the International Telecommunication
Union (ITU) sets out the international arrangements for the amateur service.
The
World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) held from 9 June to 4 July 2003 in
Geneva fundamentally changed Article 25.

The changes to Article 25 have provided the ACA with an opportunity to
review
and simplify the current regulatory and licensing arrangements for the
amateur service. In August 2003 the ACA released a discussion paper that
looked at
the changes made to Article 25, as well as exploring future options for the
amateur service in Australia.

Morse code proficiency requirement to be removed

As a result of an extensive public consultation process, the ACA has decided
to discontinue the Morse code proficiency requirement for the amateur
service.
This decision was made considering public comments at the meetings and
initial analysis of submissions to the discussion paper.

The ACA will make interim changes to legislative instruments which will
immediately allow access to privileges previously available only to those
satisfying Morse code proficiency requirements.

The ACA is in the process of amending the amateur radio licence conditions
specified in the Radiocommunications Licence Conditions (Amateur Licence)
Determination No. 1 of 1997 to reflect this decision. The amendments will
give:
holders of Intermediate and Limited Amateur licences access to the same
frequency bands as Unrestricted Amateur licensees; and holders of the Novice
Limited Amateur licence access to the same frequency bands as Novice
licensees. The
interim arrangements are expected to come into force on 1 January 2004.

For more details about the arrangements, please refer to the A
HREF="http://www.aca.gov.au/aca_home/issues_for_comment/discussion/archive/F
AQ_morse_removal.pdf"Frequently Asked
Questions/A.

Public Meetings

As part of the consultation process for this review, the ACA held public
meetings in cities around Australia. Over 700, or approximately 5% of the
14,000
licensed amateur radio operators in Australia, attended the meetings to
discuss the proposals in the discussion paper and seek clarification on
particular
issues.

The ACA would like to thank everyone who attended the meetings, especially
those who travelled long distances to attend. The ACA received some useful
and
constructive feedback on the proposals contained in the discussion paper,
and
will consider this feedback when considering the proposals.

Submissions

Submissions to the discussion paper closed on 31 October 2003.

The ACA would like to thank everyone who submitted comments to the
discussion
paper. Approximately 1400 submissions were received, and the ACA will work
through them over the next few months.

The ACA hopes to have submissions published on the website by Christmas.

For further information on the review please contact:

Email: A .au/A
Phone: (02) 6219 5578