I understand why the ARRL proposes free upgrades from Technician to
General. The assumptions:
1. The restructuring has to limit the number of license classes to 3.
Thus, the Advanced license and either the Novice license or
Technician license must be eliminated.
2. The restructuring must produce no downgrades.
3. The closing of the Novice class in the restructuring of 2000 was a
major loss. So the Technician license should be eliminated but the
Novice license should be reopened.
4. The only way to eliminate the Technician class without downgrading
the existing Technicians is to automatically upgrade all Technicians
to General.

I still disagree with the ARRL's proposal, though I can now see the
reasoning behind it. I think the flawed assumption is #3. If the
closing of the Novice class was such a major loss, then why was the
No-Code Technician license so much more popular than the Novice
license during the years when both entry-level licenses were
available? The FCC closed the Novice license for the same reason
General Motors closed Oldsmobile - not enough takers.

I'd prefer to see all Novices and Technicians merged into a new
Technician class and be granted Tech Plus privileges. This would be
compatible with a 3-license system. Nobody would lose privileges, but
all automatic upgrades would be modest.

As many have suggested, I think the ARRL proposal may have been a PR
move. Although changing the rules is the FCC's job and not the
ARRL's, anything that the ARRL could have proposed would have
generated a firestorm of controversy. The ARRL had to propose the
retention of the Morse Code exam requirement for the Amateur Extra
license to appeal to the proponents of Morse Code testing. To appeal
to the No Code Technicians feeling intimidated by the Morse Code exam
requirement, the ARRL proposed upgrading them to General.

Jason Hsu, AG4DG
usenet A T jasonhsu.com
http://www.jasonhsu.com/ee.html
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eeham/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/resume...tion_fighters/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gmu-ece-control/