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ARRL Proposal to Give Technicians More Operating Privileges

Discussion in 'Amateur Radio News' started by NW7US, Apr 10, 2019.

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K8XG XML Subscriber QRZ Page

Folks I have mentored didn't even need any books. Just use the QRZ practice tests, and learn why each wrong answer is wrong till you get it right. Take that test 3 times a day for 3 or 4 days a week and in 2 weeks you can pass the Tech and General.

And if you want a book, these PDF files are free!
http://ham-class.com/2007GeneralStudyGuide.pdf

By Dan, KB6NU produces them for free. If you want a real book, he has them on Amazon for ~$14

K8XG, Jul 8, 2019

#871

K0GOV likes this.
ND6M Ham Member QRZ Page

AC0GT said: ↑

Whether it is a distaste for CW or for Morse code testing is perhaps a distinction without a difference. Speaking generally about all radio services, not just Amateur radio, the FCC appears to be following the demand of commercial operators for Morse code qualified operators in their offerings of licenses, certificates, and endorsements for Morse code. As use of CW declined so has the number of these licenses, certificates, and endorsements.

When it comes to the Amateur Radio Service the FCC lost all interest in Morse code testing once commercial and military operators moved beyond CW. If people want to learn and use Morse code and CW on Amateur radio then I agree that the FCC doesn't much care. When it comes to commercial users then the FCC did what they could to move them on to voice and digital modes once GMDSS was established. It appears to me that there were plenty of commercial users that didn't want to budge because upgrading equipment to meet the new requirements cost them money.

Yes, they saw no need to maintain a pool of Morse code trained operators in Amateur radio once commercial and military users moved beyond CW sometime in the 1990s. That became abundantly clear once the US Coast Guard (which is a military branch BTW) stopped listening for CW (at least officially) in the late 1990s.

I remember newsgroups. I have no reason to doubt that there was a request from POTUS to do something about Morse code testing for Amateur radio, my doubt is how much weight this actually carried in any actions from the FCC. POTUS can ask for a lot of things but the FCC still has to answer to Congress on what they are allowed to do. By 1990 the Cold war was effectively over, GMDSS was pretty well established, and so the need to keep a ready pool of trained Morse code operators was fading fast. Again, this became abundantly clear a few years later as the Coast Guard was winding down their CW capability.

Yes, of course, the Morse code testing requirements in Amateur radio was being reduced in near lock step with the requirements that ships be equipped with GMDSS gear.

I'm not going to argue about the specific year. The point is that sometime between 1995 and 2000 the use of CW by ships at sea, at least in waters the USA cared about, went from near routine to near nothing. The US Coast Guard stopped listening for it (again, at least officially, there were quite likely many sailors that listened out of concern and/or curiosity) in this time frame. As I recall there were still a number of commercial ships that kept their old CW gear because they would travel to foreign ports that still operated CW, but even then the traffic was very light.

It wasn't about just saving money but about saving lives. GMDSS allowed for automated operation even if the crew were unable to operate the radio. Automatic locator beacons were mandated as part of this switch away from CW. Certainly an automated beacon can transmit CW, and there are numerous historical examples of this, but other modes allowed for better performance. Keeping hand sent CW did not make sense if the receiver is a computer. Creating computer sent CW only makes much sense if the receiver is a human. Once there is a computer on both ends there is a desire to use a mode that performs better than CW, to save lives, and is cheaper to implement, to save money.

Part of that money saving was in things like having the radio DJ and talk show hosts be licensed so that they could keep the station on frequency and within power limits and not need a technician on site to do this. As technology improved the need to keep so many trained people at broadcast stations diminished. So, yes, it was to save money. The ability to save money with fewer trained and licensed operators was made possible with improved technology.

I believe the FCC takes the basis and purpose quite literally. It is from this basis and purpose they make decisions on how Amateur radio licensing is done.

I can take that example as showing the FCC takes Amateur radio quite seriously. If they didn't much care about this then they could have simply denied the request without even looking at it. Instead they researched it, expending limited funds and manpower to do so, in order to see to it that Amateur radio was able to experiment with spread spectrum technology. It seems to me that they want licensed Amateurs to experiment with this so that industry can take advantage of what might come from it.

The military recruits from the pool of licensed Amateurs for positions as radio operators. Civilian operations like MARS, CAP, Boy Scouts, etc. all fall under the FCC but its from this pool that come future NTIA operators in the military and government. The FCC cannot ignore the needs of the military because both the NTIA and FCC answer to the executive and legislative branches of the federal government, and the federal government wants military recruits.

Why would the written requirements have changed any more than they have been? The basics of radio technology and FCC rules have moved slowly. So long as the people in Amateur radio keep up with technology the FCC should see no need to step in. As I see it they have, largely because the Amateur radio community "borrows" heavily from commercial users, and to some extent this is also true in the reverse where commercial users "borrow" from Amateur radio.

Right, because the FCC is bound by the basis and purpose. The petitions to change the rules on Technician so far failed because they don't meet the interpretation of this basis and purpose as the FCC sees it.

I agree on the need to get "ducks in a row". It appears to me that there has been an alignment between what the Amateur radio community wants and what the FCC can allow with this petition.
Click to expand...

PHD

ND6M, Jul 8, 2019

#872
K0GOV Ham Member QRZ Page

All you need is this book and a desire for knowledge. I read through it one time and I've been ripping through passing practice exams ever since (a couple weeks) without even really committing a lot of new info to memory yet.

K0GOV, Jul 8, 2019

#873

AG5DB and K8XG like this.
K8XG XML Subscriber QRZ Page

^ While I update my ARRL membership for 3 years each time, I do not like their license manuals; never did. The W5YI books were much better in my day of using them for Extra and I send them as gifts to folks looking to upgrade to Extra and I have had an FCC Radio Telephone [needed for alignment and repair of commercial radios] permit back in 1980.

The free PDFs KB6NU is doing are almost as good as the W5YI groups books.

K8XG, Jul 8, 2019

#874

K0GOV likes this.
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For what it is worth either way,... If CW and Novice license was no longer required when I when I got my ticket around the very last of the 70's that I probably would still be a lifetime Novice? Teck today... I was a route driver and I desired the use of the 2 meter repeaters for extended communication plus safety and survival and it very well served that purpose on the routes plus I became friends with many along the routes. .. But because I had the CW HF experience threw communication on the Novice bands I acquired the desire to go on. Several years later I got the chance to make the 30 mile trip to the FCC testing event in spring of 1984 and went from Novice/Teck to Advanced .. By then I had no trouble copying the 20 wpm code but misted out on the Extra.. Hey.. That was good enough for me and I set the key on the shelf and haven't been on the air on CW since..

KD0QG, Jul 9, 2019

#875

K8XG likes this.
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^ I like your trip via radio.. But no reason to put the key on the Shelf...I do cw still as it is still the easiest way to make contacts with no computer and bad band conditions.. I do mostly digital and even with only a RasberryPi for a computer... but CW only needs your ear and a key...

K8XG, Jul 9, 2019

#876

KD0QG likes this.
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K8XG said: ↑

^ I like your trip via radio.. But no reason to put the key on the Shelf...I do cw still as it is still the easiest way to make contacts with no computer and bad band conditions.. I do mostly digital and even with only a RasberryPi for a computer... but CW only needs your ear and a key...
Click to expand...

Oh I may try again and can still recognize most of it but be a while before I would be ready to go on the air. .. When I was younger my boss was a world war fighter pilot that had been shot down and he would always tell me that you will never actually forget it. I guess he was right? ...I had got ahold of a Galaxy V while I was still a Teck and mounted on a speaker box between the seats with a 40 meter coil on the truck mirror bracket and my boss really got a big kick out of it. Sometimes he would just be leaving when I got in and we would message back and forth on our vehicle horns. Boy I bet some people wondered what the heck was going on? I guess I always tried to make it as fun as I could.. Lotta fun. Lotta memories.. And too many miles?

KD0QG, Jul 9, 2019

#877
KD0QG XML Subscriber QRZ Page

N2EYE said: ↑

I guess I'm an old Tech with code element that would be motivated by 40 phone privileges.
I haven't been on air for several years but HF is the place to be.
I'd like to operate again and have no interest in vhf, I have an iphone for that.
I thoroughly enjoyed 10 meters but it's unreliable.
The antenna requirements for 40 meters will keep the knuckle-heads out.
Click to expand...

.. I think their idea was that tecks would really keep 10 alive. but the days of it coming on the sun and being there until dark are gone now? I know in this area CB channel 19 is deader than 52 around here. but when I start hearing activity on it or 38 I realize that 10 is open. But you can then hear the beacons on 10 but no answer on anything. same on 12.. I used to have an HR 2510 on the truck and you could work all the DX you could stand back them. 10 was the best and funest band when it is alive. But the deadest when it is dead?

KD0QG, Jul 9, 2019

#878
W4AUT Premium Subscriber QRZ Page

What I'm reading in this forum, is more of the same, give me privilege's that I do not have work for (effort). Oh well, it is sad to watch the decline in this Hobby! This is a reflection in society in general.

W4AUT, Jul 21, 2019

#879

KD0QG and K4YPS like this.
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K8XG said: ↑

^ I like your trip via radio.. But no reason to put the key on the Shelf...I do cw still as it is still the easiest way to make contacts with no computer and bad band conditions.. I do mostly digital and even with only a RasberryPi for a computer... but CW only needs your ear and a key...
Click to expand...

Oh sometimes I listen across the band while doing other things at night and can still recognize and copy some signals. But I would have to practice up before I could really get into it. who knows, I may try it again someday

KD0QG, Jul 21, 2019

#880

K8XG likes this.
K0NH Ham Member QRZ Page

So yesterday I talked to a friend of mine who has had his license since 1983 and I feel like ever since the morse code requirement was removed that people who get there tech licence a truly not hams and adding even more privileges to a license which requires almost no effort compared to back in the 90's is just disrespectful for the hams who have been what they are since then, this idea in my opinion is idiotic.

K0NH, Feb 10, 2021

#881
K0NH Ham Member QRZ Page

W2ACC said: ↑

If you going to give away the farm the tech test should be upgraded to reflect the level of operation
most people testing for tech ticket do not have the technical understanding to be responsible operation
and those who do advance to higher class very quickly
Click to expand...

though I'm young there is finally someone who understands, thank you

K0NH, Feb 10, 2021

#882
PD0JBV Guest

Morse code is not a guarantee for attitude or behavior ...

PD0JBV, Feb 10, 2021

#883

NJ1S, W9FL, AG5DB and 1 other person like this.
KE8QEP XML Subscriber QRZ Page

I guess I'm not a real ham since I didn't have to learn CW to get a technician class license.

KE8QEP, Feb 10, 2021

#884
K7JEM Ham Member QRZ Page

W0IJJ said: ↑

So yesterday I talked to a friend of mine who has had his license since 1983 and I feel like ever since the morse code requirement was removed that people who get there tech licence a truly not hams and adding even more privileges to a license which requires almost no effort compared to back in the 90's is just disrespectful for the hams who have been what they are since then, this idea in my opinion is idiotic.
Click to expand...

Trying to decipher what you have written. Which idea is idiotic? The idea that some hams think others are not "real hams" or the idea that techs should be granted new privileges?

K7JEM, Feb 10, 2021

#885

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