the FCC announced the licence restructuring today, effective April 15, 2000.

In a nutshell: 3 license classes Technician, General, and Amatuer Extra,
5 wpm morese requirement for General and Extra.

They are doing away with RACES station licenses, and there will be no
automatic upgrades, so Novices and Tech-Plusses can continue to use the Novice
subbands and continue renewing as such.

Get the details at: http://www.arrl.org/news/restructuring/

34 responses total.

This no doubt will upset a lot of people, but I'm not dissapointed with it.
It looks like Advanced licenses will be able to upgrade to Extra, if I read
things right.  I havent read the whole report (which is about 70 pages long,
ther is a link to it from the ARRL site) but I'm curious if the 5wpm req. will
be 'sunsetted' if the ITU drops it's morese req. for HF privliges.

I told my dad about this today and he commented that it was nearly this way
50 years ago.  Three license classes that is, of course code was a req. for
all of them.

Jim, you can hit me later, but I'm glad to see only the 5wpm req....;-)

I'm currently an Advanced...I assume "no automatic upgrades" means I have to
take the Extra written to become an Extra class.  I'm sure there will be
much gnashing of teeth over this, and some old-timers will claim that it's
ruining the hobby, but I have no real complaints about it.

from the arrl website:

The effective date provides a window of upgrade opportunity for current
Advanced licensees. Between now and April 15, current
Advanced holders may take the existing Element 4B, a
40-question test, giving them credit for having passed the current Extra
written examination. Likewise, holders of a Certificate of
Successful Completion of Examination (CSCE) for Elements 3B or 4B dated on
or after April 17, 1999, will be able to qualify for General or
Amateur Extra respectively when the new rules go into effect on April 15,
2000. 

    I'm saddened to see that the FCC is giving in. I am not going to make any
stink about it, I'm not going to look down my nose at anyone who gets one of
the new licenses, and I certainly will continue to help and cultivate this
hobby.
    I'm sort of glad to see the 13 wpm go. It was almost impossible to get
because it's right at the point where the code changes pitch, and I think they
knew that. I sure hope the 20 stays there. 
    Dave, the Extra written is a breeze. IF you passed the Advanced and the
20 code, it should be a cakewalk. 

    I came up through the ranks, and I held all 5 grades. It was hell, but
I made it, and if an idiot like me can do it, anyone can. (D in math, B's in
science. I didn't graduate high school.)

This is the final report and order...13 and 20 are GONE.  5wpm for the General
and Amatuer Extra.

I'm glad that you're not a snob about this...there are a lot of hams who
are predicting that we'll have one big 11 Meter fun fest once the 'new'
Generals and Extras come on line.....whatever....

It's about time!  Amateur Radio has been on a downhill slide for a long
time.  Who needs CW when all you need is internet access to talk around
the world!  Amateur Radio *must* keep up with the times if it is going
to survive.  We earn our spectrum allocations by providing services to
our communities and to our country.  If we can not or do not provide these
services, spectrum will be lost, as has already happened.  Amateur Radio's
biggest advantage is that it can operate free from infrastructure, unlike
the internet, pagers, cell phones, land lines, etc.

It seems to me, though, that there are still some checkpoints needed
to provide some encouragement for hams to increase their CW and other
skills. Perhaps the ARRL will introduce code speed certificates. The
reason, of course, is message handling in emergencies, for which CW
is useful in conditions of poor reception and lack of power and/or of
digital modes.

Re #5: Heh.  Anyone who thinks code will keep the bands from turning into an
"11 meter fun fest" hasn't listened to 75 meters.

I'd like to see them beef up the theory a bit, personally.  Especially the
antenna theory, which is useful for just about any practicing ham.  One of
the differences between a ham and a CB'er is the ham generally knows how to
use an SWR meter.

hmmm...my first SWR meter was for CB.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the CW mode and I have nothing
against it all.  I do not feel that it is a reasonable checkpoint.  I
feel that knowing the procedure and process of passing traffic would
be a much more reasonable checkpoint.  It is more in line with the 
purpose of Amateur Radio.  Licensing should be based on the on the goals
of Amateur Radio.  If you fail the CW portion of the test you can not
get a license, even though, in this day, knowing CW is on the same level
as knowing how to gap the breaker points on a car engine.

I suspect that CW has saved more lives than gapping breaker points, though
I do not minimize the necessity of the latter. CW, though, is probably
less useful than knowing CPR. So, what has almost exactly the same
utility as CW, in the "big picture"?

When the CW requirement was first established, CW was critical to Amateur
Radio.  CW was as cutting edge than as the internet is today.  Amateur
operators were drawn off to serve in the war and in the expanding
electronics field of the time.  Amateur Radio was at the cutting edge of
technology at the time.  I feel that the part of the reason for it suffering
in terms of membership and interest is because it can't let go of those
glory years.  While technology has marched on, Amateur Radio stayed back
to bask in the sun of what it did.  It has only made minimal strides in
keeping up with the world around it.  Today, it has little appeal to the
type of person that would have been attracted to it back in the 30's.

There is nothing wrong with this if this is the intent of a ARRL.  If
the ARRL wants a club of radio archivists than I have nothing against that.
The ARRL needs to decide what its goals are and then make the necessary
changes that will encourage people with like-minded goals to join.  If it
decides that it wants to be an antique radio and operating mode club, then,
yes, it should require new members to be proficient at CW and know how to
bias the grid on the triode.  However, I don't think that this is the goal
off the ARRL.  I think it still wants to be a service to its country and
community and be a place where new ideas in electronics can be tried out
or at least explored.  They will have a tough go of it if they continue
with the CW requirement.  Back in the 20's they didn't require that new
members be able to pound hieroglyphics into rock.  Why do so now?

I can not answer your queston, Rane.  I do not know what the big picture
is.  I'm not even sure that the ARRL knows what the big picture is.

I don't disagree with you, except for your blanket "minimal strides"
remarks. I think of TAPR and their support of and technological strides
in packet and APRS and other digital modes. What I think has happened,
though, is that the level of sophistication has increased so greatly
that the "incidental" ham, who originally would become more quickly
adept at the older technology, now has a longer (if not steeper) learning
curve. That is, technology has marched on - and has gotten so far ahead
it is more difficult to catch up to get in step. Hence most amateurs now
don't get far beyond the elementary levels, where they find themselves
as primarily appliance operators. 

However because a technology is old does not mean it is irrelevant. You
could argue that amateurs don't need to know ohms law either (it was
critical when amateurs built their own rigs, but what use is it to
appliance operators, who send their rigs back to the factory for repair?).
I'm inclined to think that a minimal CW familiarity is still a valid
adjunct to the technology of amateur communication - amateurs are not
supposed to be professonals at the cutting edge, even if some once were.

It might be hard to convince Congress that our current amount of allocated
radio spectrum is necessary for radio archivists, too.  Especially since
they can auction it off and gain money for their pet projects.  There *are*
aspects of amateur radio that are on the cutting edge -- AMSAT comes to
mind.

Minimal strides?  I'm sure I said it but I don't know in what context.  You
do not need to know ohms law to get a Amateur Radio license.  You do need
to know CW to get it.

Yes, David.  You are correct about the spectrum issue.  Now and than I get
mailings from the ARRL asking me to write a letter to oppose some bill that
is heading for congress that takes away spectrum from amateur operators.  I
have a hard time coming up with solid points that support the ARRL's point
of view.  We EARN or spectrum.  If we do nothing to earn it than the FCC
has a right to take it away and make better use of it.

Yes, there is some cutting-edge stuff going on in Amateur Radio.  Some.
I recall the ARRL being less than approving when questions of spread
spectrum and other modes came up.  Heck, even my $39, 900 MHz portable
phone has spread spectrum!  Yes, rules need to be re-written and such but
that is what the ARRL should be doing instead of thinking up more
contests, writing letters to hams because more spectrum is being lost
and other silly stuff like that.  Many of the ARRL publications remind
me of Captain Marvel comic books.  I mean, Archie for Amateur radio?
What kind of people are they trying to attract here?

Hmmm...there were some ohm's law questions in the pool my exam came
from. I agree it isn't a 'gate' like CW, but you *should* know
something about ohms law.

Amateur radio did get much of its spectrum because no one else had
any use for it. That has sure changed. I don't have any good arguments
for keeping all of the original spectrum. It doesn't help that quite
a few operators misuse it, too. (We had good examples of this in
our recent Y2K "exercise", when there were hams intentionally interfering
with ARC traffic nets because the nets had picked frequencies those hams
happened to want to use.)

Yes, there are ohms law question on the test, but you can probably miss
them all and still pass the written portion.  Not so for the CW portion.

If there were less spectrum than the self policing issue might be
minimized, if not more manageable.  It is not a good thing when hams
interfere with ANY sort of health and welfare traffic.  It is sad to
hear that that was going on.

Our HF spectrum is probably pretty safe for now; most of the demand is for
UHF and VHF spectrum.  AMSAT is particularly important there; most
satellites either uplink or downlink, or both, in the UHF and VHF region,
and having a satellite that uses a particular part of the band is a darn
good argument for keeping it.  You can't exactly go up there and retune it.

The HF spectrum *is* increasingly polluted, though.  Carrier-current
communications systems (such as those "put a phone jack anywhere in the
house" plug-in things), lamp dimmers, RF-excited light bulbs, and electronic
fluorescent light ballasts all produce a lot of interference in the MF and HF
region, and with fewer people listening to AM radio, there isn't the
incentive to "clean up" these devices that there used to be.

I paid the ARRL.com web site a visit to see if I could find a mission
statement or some-such.  It was not easy to find but I did find the following
in article 2 of their bylaws:

The purposes for which our corporation is formed are the following: the
promotion of interest in Amateur Radio communication and experimentation; the
establishment of Amateur Radio networks to provide electronic communications
in the event of disasters or other emergencies; the furtherance of the public
welfare; the advancement of the radio art; the fostering and promotion of
noncommercial intercommunication by electronic means throughout the world;
the fostering of education in the field of electronic communication; the
promotion and conduct of research and development to further the development
of electronic communication; the dissemination of technical, educational and
scientific information relating to electronic communication; and the printing
and publishing of documents, books, magazines, newspapers and pamphlets
necessary or incidental to any of the above purposes.

I also learned that they have introduced a bill that would require replacement
spectrum for any that is taken away.  Perhaps ham radio will return to its
roots and have to make due with what the commercial interests don't want.  Not
a bad idea as I see it.  The undesirable spectrum will allow some to
advance the radio art by coming up with ways to communicate despite lots
of noise and other RF crud.  I'm sure that Phil Karn, KA9Q, and many
others like him, have already come up with ways of of doing this.

I wouldn't eliminate CW, but rather make it an option in "must pass 
three of six", sort of thing.

That is one wouldn't have to know it, but would score points if they
did.

Hi Guys,

Just was reading the comments about the amatuer Radio restructering... and
it boils down to one thing. M O N E Y!  The Ham radio Hobby isn't a cash cow
like it once was. people can get on the internet and communcate for FREE, why
should they study? you don't need a license to talk to germany on the
internet. hell you can go to http://www.firetalk.com and get free voice
chat software, I use it all the time! less trouble and less problemsthat come
with setting up a ham station! 

I just hope it isn't too late.

-Chuck

K8CPA

  Not as long as there are people like use who hang on to outdated technology
like a terrier on a bone.

There is a bit more to it than that, but money is usually involved in
everything, making it a safe bet.

The one big advantage ham radio has going for it is lack of infrastructure.
You can't say that for the internet.  You can also communicate with a
large number of people at the same time, like on a net.  Working the
internet is also difficult / expensive while portable or mobile.

...and when there is a general power failure, or the phone system gets
jammed with emergency traffic, or a tree falls across your phone line,
or the server somewhere is under water, or.......

RE#22 -- that will be the downfall of Amateur radio faster than any
restucturing.  As technology marches forward, so must hams or we will wither
and die.  outdated technology is neat, but it can only be one aspect of a
rather varied ARS.  

as much as I hate to admit it, he's right.

Please don't take that the wrong way though, I don't want to stop anyone
from enjoying a certain aspect of the hobby, but the attitudes like
"CW .. ... Ham Radio", and if it ain't got toobes it's crap will not help
keep ham radio a viable hobby in the long run.

By all means, run CW, use big tube power, play DX, contest adn all that, but
don't look down on the guys who prefer to play above 1.25M and mess with
microwaves and the like...

That's the attitude that bugs me (I'm not insinuating that anyone here has
that attitude)

  I was taught that no-one needs to run big power. Even 100 watts can be
excessive. My dad was a guy who believed in low power, and did you know that
you MUST use the lowest power setting that will get the message across, so
firing up that big tube amp is usually not nessecary

Some people in the radio club here use the linear occasionally (we have one
that's capable of around 1 kW) but I never do.  I don't consider it worth
the trouble to tune up.  Plus, on average, you can only operate with it for
about 5 minutes before you get distracted by people pounding on the station
door.  The station's on the top floor of the dorm, with wire antennas
running the length of the roof.  With 1 kW you get into cheap phones and
stereos on pretty much every floor, throughout the building.  No problems at
100 watts.

We used to have a low pass filter on the thing, but it never helped much. 
It's since been removed, because our new radio is capable of 6 meter
operation.  (It took a while for people to realize why the 6 meter
performance was so bad.  Then someone noticed that unmarked box with the
coax running through it on the side of the operating desk was getting kind
of warm during transmissions...)

I've heard of people running 100mW experimental qrp transmitters on HF and
getting replys...simply amazing!

I also heard about someone who made a contact a couple hundreds of miles
away on HF, using a 100W light bulb as a transmitting antenna.

Is there a ham equivalent to the term "fish story"?

I'm not sure, but in the same category, there was a guy who claimed to have
made a contact using 1500 watts into a half wave piece of wet rope, fed with
a transmatch. ;> My favorite, though, was the dipole of two Dodge Aries
station wagons parked nose-to-nose.  (The feedline was connected to the
radiator bolts, of course.)

Re:32 You should have seen the DX that got away! :-)

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