FCC Regulation of Amateur Radio

W5HTW writes "The following is quoted from a current ARRL Bulletin.



SB QST ARL ARLB019

ARLB019 FCC puts regulatory ball in amateurs' court



The FCC says the ball is in the court of the Amateur Service to
determine the course of future Amateur Radio regulation. Speaking
May 20 at the Dayton Hamvention FCC forum, Bill Cross, W3TN, of the
FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, said that the days of
Commission-imposed regulation are past.



''Detailed regulation of the nitty gritty of communication services,
including the Amateur Service, is not in the picture,'' Cross said.
''Rather, the FCC is shifting to strong and effective enforcement of
truly necessary regulations.'' The FCC, he said, now plans to look to
the amateur community to reach consensus on any new regulations it
thinks it wants and needs.



''I hope that those of you who are thinking about asking us to carve
up a band by fiat will think again,'' he said. ''You really are asking
us to tie your hands regarding your use of your spectrum.''



Before the FCC initiates any rulemaking proceedings in the Amateur
Service to change privileges, Cross said it wants to see proposals
involving the implementation of ''new and more modern communications
technologies,'' such as digital. In addition, he said, any future
proposal ''must include all licensees, and it must include all
bands,'' and--most important--the amateur community must reach a
consensus on the topic.



Cross said the FCC does not want and cannot handle ''multiple
proceedings that address piecemeal changes in operating privileges''
that affect only certain classes of licensees or certain bands.
NNNN
/EX



END QUOTE.



The last paragraph pretty much says it all. The FCC is not interested in discussing changes that affect only some classes of licenses in amateur radio. Nor would it appear from that text, is the FCC interested in addressing changes to certain bandplans that relate to operating privileges. With such a compressed segment of a speech, accuracy may be difficult, but it appears to be saying the FCC will not look at changing subbands that relate to license class, until we amateurs have determined what we want. And once we determine that, changes will affect ALL license classes.



I have been predicting for some time that after the international radio conference to be held in 2003, the requirement for knowledge of Morse at any rate will be removed. That, though, means internationally, and it is still up to the FCC to remove in within the USA. I'm quite certain that will happen, as doing so would accomplish the FCC's stated goals of getting more and more out of the ham radio licensing and regulations business, moves they have been making since the inauguration of the VEC program, the removal of requirements to modify licenses when relocating, the elimination of license classes (Novice and Advanced) and the 'practical' combining of Tech/Tech Plus, in anticipation of precisely this move. Likewise they have recently turned over club station procedures to the ARRL, and there are other moves afoot to privatize the licensing structures. At the same time, they have combined commercial licenses in the GROL (actually done years ago) and stopped policing commercial, business and broadcast radio/TV. Their attention seems to be focused solely on the cell phone industry.



This leads us to suspect, as I have been stating for some time, that once this international requirement is removed, and the national one follows, there will no longer be any need for differences in license class. Such a move will cause an "instant upgrade" of all Technician and Technician/No Code to at least General, with all General Class HF privileges. For anyone who has looked at the census figures of hams, shown by license class and available on the QRZ.COM web site, it should be obvious this will increase by (were it to take place today) around 40 percent or so the number of amateurs permitted to operate HF, though almost all of that operation will be on SSB. A few will find and like digital modes, virtually none of them will ever use CW.



One result of that, of course, will be to increase dramatically the demand for more "voice space." This is almost certainly to result in fairly quick 'refarming' of ham bands to allocate far more available space to SSB operations, and far less to CW and digital modes. My own guess is the Extra and General will become a single class as well, for it removes the need to maintain and enforce subbands based upon class of license. To keep the General-Extra division, for example, in CW ranges, would mean very crowded conditions, for if total CW band segments are cut drastically, as will almost have to be necessary, dividing it further by class will pretty much end the mode for everyone.



In addition, that next 'restructuring' may increase the demand for HF gear, which relates to other posts on this site concerning the current situation of more VHF/UHF gear being sold than HF, and manufacturers of HF gear losing money. While it will be too late for Kachina, with something in the neighborhood of 300,000 hams suddenly being able to jump into HF, there should be a rapid - though possibly short term -- explosion in HF equipment manufacture. This could include not only transceivers, but accessories, such as linear amplifiers (after all, everyone wants a couple of KW!) speech processing add-ons, such as "power microphones," and antennas and tower. For at least a short time, the ham radio marketplace should return to something about as close to 'boom status' as we ever get. That could cut prices on ham gear, a boon to us all (unless, of course, we happen to be in the selling market and not the buying one!)



I look for a rapid spurt in ham radio growth about that time, as all those who have been, up till then, confined to VHF, will now have "something to show the wanne-be's" about how easy it is to talk to Europe without a cell phone. Ham radio will be far more attractive to the young, who have found repeaters and simplex operations, in comparison to cell phones and Palm Pilots, about as interesting as smallpox. There could also be a dramatic increase in interference to non-ham services, such as phone and TV, but this will eventually be handled.



The hobby IS changing, has changed, and changes will continue, many of them great for future growth, perhaps beyond our bounds, and, as the suggestion from the FCC indicates, perhaps beyond the capabilities of the FCC to monitor and/or regulate. (Actually we appear to have already reached and passed that point.) Seems to me that is where they were in the mid-seventies with CB - unable and unwilling to regulate and enforce. That ended with the FCC pretty much saying "Go to it and do your own thing." The quoted ARRL letter at least suggests such a move may be not too far in ham radio's future.



73

Ed Brooks, W5HTW"