PROPOSED: Only 2 Amateur Radio License Classes -- A Response to the FCC and an Invitation to Discuss

Clearly the FCC makes it's own rules on top of what has been put in place by Congress. When it comes to suggestions of granting more privileges without more testing there will come a wave of protestations from Amateurs calling this "dumbing down" of the licensing, and while the FCC is not obligated to act on these protestations they will clearly consider them as a matter of following the rules of administrative procedure in federal rules and regulations, and as a matter of keeping some level of peace among the public. But this isn't a matter of just avoiding angry phone calls and e-mails, from the FCC orders issued the FCC has stated they imposed a rule on themselves to not grant any privileges without added testing. If the FCC would agree to break their own rules would be exceptional.

If we are to consider exceptions to this rule we have a few examples. When the 60 meter band was added to Amateur radio privileges to that was added to General and up without added testing. No doubt because this was deemed a fairly minor change and not significant enough to justify added testing. The addition of the Tech-Plus/Novice privileges to Technician after the end of any Morse code testing requirements was also a change not requiring added testing, it would not make sense to do so for a number of reasons.

While I can agree that the FCC could allow for Advanced, and perhaps also General, to get Extra privileges this request has been made before and was denied. I don't see a point in making that request again, not without some indication from the FCC that they had made some change in their own policies.

There is clearly a confusion about the terms. I'm using the nomenclature I've seen on the ARRL website. On the web pages about reciprocal licensing the ARRL uses HAREC to define a license from one nation to get test credit for a license in another nation, and CEPT is in reference to temporary allowances to operate in another nation with a license from the visitor's home nation.

I did look at some reciprocity rules and I gave a link to a PDF document in a previous comment on which nations comply with HAREC, and the United States was not listed. However in the ARRL web pages on reciprocal licensing agreements there is a provision for using CEPT reciprocal licensing rules to use an Extra or Advanced license in many nations for full privileges as a visitor, and some nations allow use of General for limited privileges. I linked to an ARRL web page on that above also. The ARRL web page mentioned HAREC and it stated no FCC license complied with it.

If any FCC license is HAREC compliant then I haven't found evidence of that. If there is evidence of this being the case then I'd appreciate a link to some web page spelling this out.

The FCC downgraded a lot of commercial licenses in 2013, I don't see how Amateur radio would be immune to this. I can point to FCC documents spelling out clearly that they will not upgrade operating privileges for Amateurs without testing, with some minor exceptions like I mentioned above.

It's been a "hard sell" on granting what I believe should be considered minor changes to Technician privileges with the ARRL petition some years ago now. It's not dead yet, it could be revived, but since the FCC hasn't moved on it for so long it is unlikely they will ever act on the petition as it is now. Since the FCC rejected allowing Extra privileges to Advanced when asked, and did so many times because people kept asking, then I believe repeating the request would not only be rejected again but sour their mood, and the mood of those that would submit comments, on any petition that included such a request. It hasn't worked before so as a matter of "art of the possible" I'd suggest not touching that sore point again in the future.

To get the FCC to agree to a new license called "Full" to funnel those with Extra and Advanced into would certainly require some problem to be solved. What problem is it solving? Is this problem large enough to call for a rewrite of so many portions of Part 97? Maybe there is a case to be made but to make it means asking the FCC to do what they already said they would not do many times in the past. That being the granting of Extra level privileges to Advanced without more testing.

Remember the goal is "delete, delete, delete" not "change, change, change". I'll point out again how I was going back and forth on proposing a new Basic license as that was an addition than a deletion. I'm going with that for now as I believe in spite of it being an addition it aids in keeping edits to Part 97 simpler and provides a smoother transition to simplified rules than trying to pile a bunch of changes on General, and those holding a General license, all at once. I may change my mind on that again in the future if I'm convinced that there's a better way to handle the deletion of some Part 97 rules.

 

EEK AND MEEK AT IT AGN.

 

You guys are still talking about this.... ..

 

Not only that, there’s a contest for the longest post. An attractive plaque will be awarded to the winner.

CQ CAWNTEST CQ CAWNTEST!

 

I suspect people have been proposing a two-tier license system since the two-tier license system was lost in 1951. There were three licenses under the ABC licensing but the distinction between B and C was that the testing for the B license was at some FCC office but for the C license this was done by mail and proctored by a trusted volunteer, the testing and privileges for B and C were identical otherwise. Should we get a two-tier license structure then expect the debate to shift to having one, three, or more tiers on the licensing. This is a 75 year old debate, don't be surprised it is still going.

 

Anyone who thinks ham radio has not been "dumbed down" has head buried in sand. Exhibit 1 is the License class Q&A books listing every test question and answer. All you need is a good short term memory to pass any given license class. Many area clubs offer a "Ham In A Day" class session virtually guaranteeing the passage of the test at the end of the class. Walk in no license, walk out as a tech class awaiting issue of license. Later you hear these same "hams" on the air asking the most basic questions out of ignorance of basic fundamentals. I am talking about new general and extra class holders now. The era of the "Know Nothing Ham" is already here. Also, on the air, I cringe every time I hear "hams" saying "is that a qsl (good buddy)"? QSL that. Ah yes QSL QSL. The freeband has migrated to a dumbed down ham radio.

 

2 Licenses

# 1 DUMB
# 2 Dumb -er

FCC IS NOT GOING TO
CHANGE ANYTHING .

K8PG

 

Okay, but do you have a plan to reverse this?

Getting the FCC to close the question pool to inspection and review is just not likely to happen. I'd suggest looking elsewhere for solutions.

Again, do you have a plan to reverse this?

If we are to fix the problem then that means changing the licensing system. I've been suggesting we grandfather Technician at least as a start. That means newcomers to Amateur radio would need to pass two 35 question tests than just one to get their first Amateur radio license. We can make General as it is the entry to Amateur radio, make some "tweaks" to General to make it a more appropriate entry level license, or make a new license but with the same two 35 question exams to get that license.

For things to improve they must change. If there's opposition to change then that is opposition to improvement.

I've stated before that I like how Canada does things. I'm not saying we copy exactly what Canada does, in fact I'd be opposed to an exact copy of what Canada does, but they have generally the right idea in my opinion. They have a 100 question test for Basic. Score above 80% and the applicant has access to all bands and all modes. Score above 70%, but below 80%, then the applicant has access to all modes on all bands above 30 MHz. This need to separate band privileges at 30 MHz disappeared with the ITU decision on Morse code knowledge in 2003. I'd propose we kind of emulate what Canada does with having new applicants pass the element 2 & 3 tests with a 74% or better score to get something like the Canadian "Basic+HF" privileges. A short description of "Basic+HF" is all modes, all frequencies, but with limits on RF power and a few other restrictions.

How does my proposal sound to everyone? If we want stricter testing then I'm open to discussing that. What is not likely to happen is keeping the question pool secret. There's all kinds of problems with that and so much in law and precedent in place to prevent it.

 

I support this proposal.

The best part is that it doesn't require any immediate action from FCC. All that would need to happen is for those doing training for licensing to structure their classes to take beginners through all the material for both tests 2 and 3.

It could start with a few clubs and teachers and eventually spread to nearly all.

After the number of new licensees stopping at Tech drops to a small fraction of those getting a General directly, then petition FCC to close Tech to new operators.

It's highly likely that they would grant the request, in the absence of many current licensees objecting to it.

 

Ham radio was my path into the world of electronics and a life long career traveling the world. I owe much to this hobby. You can learn about my journey through the history of ham radio on my QRZ page. I will start by saying that dumbing licenseing down and ripping away the work many of us did to earn general, advanced and extra and give it away to eighty percent or those interested in one shot is horrible. I went to five colleges over a period of seventeen years to arrive at a masters degree. It's like saying, hey kids, forget all that we have a junior second class scientist degree and a know-it-all first class degree and both are available today, no work needed, just read this fifty page copy of the actual questions and answers, memorize them and get your degree. I worked hard for the Novice with code, the general, and the advanced licenses. I never bothered with the Extra as it's now like the general with no code and the extra kilohertz of space is meaningless today. When the bands were crowded, it meant something, but that isn't the case today.

If it was only about rag-chewing, contesting, and nets, I would have enjoyed that between twelve and sixteen and shut it off when I smelled perfume and gasoline. I don't like the dumbing down process, but the world has changed a lot and the motivation to even look at this hobby has splintered into many parts. No part alone is sufficient to have the growth to sustain it's future as commerical interests and the cost of administration always trump the excitment of the hobbyists.

Ham radio like all hobbies are born from the excitment to learn something new and to be part of something bigger that requires some effort to enter and grow among your peers. I had many QSOs with the very first pioneers of ham radio that were licensed as far back as 1914. Most of these men were either drawn to electronics as kids. The electronics industry was growing rapidly, jobs were plentiful and paid well. College was affordable for most. Many served in WWII as technicians and radiomen. After the war the demand for TVs and radios exploded. Many opened stores and shops, others finished college and entered into engineering positions in the tens of thousands of factories building electronic equipment. All of that thriving environment is gone. The hobby has fragmented into many segments or sub-cultures.

There isn't one type of ham radio operator anymore. Each of these segments have their own vision for the hobby and what they get out of it varies a lot. You have to try each branch to actually experience the totality of the hobby. Like anything else, we all find ourselves attracted to one segment more then the others and will dabble in several aspects just to keep the brain working. At the core, all segments are about connecting two of us together across some distance of space

- The old timers like me who were the hands-on hobbyists that grew up with radio tubes and are dying off fast.
- Those who see ham radio as a survivalist tool after the the human race collapes; which always has me wondering who they are going to talk to?
- The emergency prepers who are not so much survialists waiting for the end times, but who want to be prepared for natural disasters and coordinate with local authorities.
- The rabid contesters; which winning is reserved for the big guns with massive multi-tower arrays and state-of-the-art broadcast studios sitting on a mountain or on a beach. For the rest of us, its great for collecting countries and states.
- The fulltime net operators that keep the process alive with absolutely no traffic. This sadly is now a means to pass time and collect signal reports and help with WAS. I do enjoy searching netlogger to complete WAS Phone on seven plus bands.
- The FT8 (etc) digital communicators who watch QSO's between their machines which require little power to cover the planet on all HF bands. DXCC and WAS on six bands is easy with digital, low power and a wire antenna.
- The VHF/UHF repeater guys which seems to be dead for the most part.
- The VHF/UHF global digital network communicators. I want to dabble a bit here as I know hams in foreign nations who want to chat, but HF still keeps me busy.
- The moon-bouncers who hold beams in the hands and look like they should be wearing a tin hat.
- The satellite talkers which in North America is CW and a mad rush for fifteen minutes every few hours.
- The microwavers shooting from mountain to moutain
- The SSTV and FSTV entertainers
- The QRPers (gluttens for punishment)
- The exotic wire antenna builders
- The park dwellers and the summit climbers.

I am sure others can add to this list.

Nostalgia got the best of me when I came back to ham radio after a very long gap; retirement has a way of doing that. I completed a study of 426 hams I knew in 2-land in the early 70s and over half have since passed away and only 36% are still alive and licensed and 65% of them are inactive and just kept renewing their license. If you boil it down further to who among the living and licensed that are showing signs of activitiy on-the-air, it's around 23% and we are dying off faster than we are being replaced. So, it is inevitiable that changes are needed. However, making it into CB for kids who to Snapchat video calls and CB for the end-timers is not the answer.

The marketing of ham radio to the public is non-existent. The only way a anyone finds the hobby is through the random chance of having someone in their life actually have a ham radio. The schools have long dropped ham radio clubs because the teachers who sponsored the clubs retired. Those fifteen segments I listed all have a great story to sell. Perhaps its because the fields of science, math, and the entire public education system seems to go out of its way to discourage young people to ask questions, experiement with ideas, and get their hands dirty once in a while. Mass media downplays education while the wealthy send their kids to the best schools money can buy. Technology has always been a doorway into a better life for the poor and working class people. Ham radio has always been a doorway into technology, higher education and interesting jobs.

So don't dumb down ham radio into CB first and second class. Sure make a new Novice hat gets to experiment and play, but make at least three steps to something to work for and be proud of, not something you cram in a few days. Once you kill the effort required, the hobby is dead and worse it loses its wow factor to industry which by the way is dying to hire people to build out their network infrastructure and wireless communications is the critical success component that connects all people, vehicles, buildings and property. Make the ham ticket something industry desires, not laughs at.

WE7EE

 

Well stated, sir. I too lament the dumbing down of ham radio into a mere shadow of what it was not so many years ago.

The "Everyone gets a trophy" mentality is ubiquitous in today's society and ham radio is not immune.

73

 

I don't buy this "dumbing down" bit at all. It is fairly common for any generation to think that the next one has it easier, when in fact they just have it different. Their skills are different; their interests are different. Those of us seniors who cast ham radio in terms of our own entry years are missing the point. There's plenty of potential in ham radio for the "yoot", but it's not in reliving the distant past.

The Novice exam back in the day was dog-easy. 20 questions, "basic regulations and sufficient theory to understand them", or something like that. Which is a great description of what an entry level license should be. And 5 WPM Morse, which was the main challenge, but Morse was relevant in those days, not just to ham radio, so sure. It was kinda cool. Stuff we saw in spy movies and the like. And for a schoolkid to get any kind of license was way cool. So low entry, decent reward = broad interest. Sure, the Novice was very limited, but dammit you were a ham! In the club! And that alone was incentive to progress.

It is true that the published test pool makes it possible to memorize answers without really learning stuff. Not easy, actually, given that there are at least 10 times as many published questions as in the actual test. It's unfortunate that new ham training is towards the test more than towards actually learning the theory. That's one of the reasons I've been writing my Electronic Literacy book. But we have to live with that. Since the test is given by VEs, there's no way the actual questions could be kept secret, even if the FCC wrote them (and there's nobody left there who'd have that job). I'm frankly not too impressed by the quality of the questions, but I also know from experience that writing good test questions is harder than it looks. Even the Tech test is not that easy; it's much harder than the old Novice written exam. And what do you get for it? Access to now-dead repeaters. Access to little-used VHF, though in some places it can still be pretty interesting, if you have a high spot for antennas, but it's way past its prime. And access to old Novice Morse, of course, which is hardly a great draw to the under-60 population.

That's why I've advocated for the US to have a 3-level system more like the UKs. Entry would be pretty easy, about 80% of Tech but a bit harder than old Novice, limited in power but with a taste of all modes on most bands. (I'd withhold 60, 30, and 20.) Middle would have a test like General with all bands, just not 100% of them. (That would be at least CEPT "Novice", which is not "Entry".) Full would be HAREC-equivalent. (Not necessarily HAREC-compliant, because regulations differ so much by country, but accepted like HAREC.) Entry, then, would let newcomers find a niche they are interested in, and make them members of the club, so to speak. Then they could advance, gaining relevant experience, if they so desired. But setting a high entry bar doesn't help. Those clowns on 7200 are not newcomers, after all.

 

I agree with the 2 level license breakdown. General & Amateur Extra. I would call them a General and a Master class license. Amateur extra sounds like a restaurant entry.

 

DUMB & DUMBER DOWN MORE.

 

73s ~ Best Regardssezzzz ..hi... "This is W6--- for id"... "Let me see if I got it". It's up to us elmers to help the new ops out with this stuff. (Ex. Let me see if I got it: Try a single "break", unkey and listen)