Restructuring?

[N0IU]

The description of this subtopic says, "Discussions about ham radio licensing, including restructuring."

As of April 15, 2000, we went down to three license classes from six and the 13 and 20 WPM CW proficiency tests were eliminted. As of February 23, 2007, the 5 WPM CW proficiency test was eliminated.

Is there more restructuring being proposed that I haven't heard about? 

[N2EY]

Is there more restructuring being proposed that I haven't heard about? 

No. None at all at the official (proposed to FCC, NPRM, etc.) level.

There are always some minor rules changes in the process, of course. But as far as licensing goes there's nothing out there I know of.

However, that doesn't mean we can't discuss such things here and try to achieve some sort of consensus.


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btw, in 2000 we didn't actually go down from six classes to three; all that changed was that no new Novice, Advanced or Tech Pluses were issued after that date, and all Tech Pluses were scheduled to become Techs upon renewal.

Since that time, all the existing Tech Pluses either expired, upgraded or were renewed as Tech - there are no more Tech Pluses left. Novices have dropped from about 50,000 to 14,000 and Advanced from about 100,000 to 56,000 (current unexpired, not including grace-period licenses). Meanwhile the numbers of Technician, General and Extra have grown, so that now more than 9 out of 10 US hams is either a Technician, General or Extra.

73 de Jim, N2EY

[W3DBB]

No. None at all at the official (proposed to FCC, NPRM, etc.) level.

There are always some minor rules changes in the process, of course. But as far as licensing goes there's nothing out there I know of.

However, that doesn't mean we can't discuss such things here and try to achieve some sort of consensus.

I won't be surprised if Restructuring III comes down the pike in the not-too-distant future. As equipment sales slow this will come to the fore.

btw, in 2000 we didn't actually go down from six classes to three; all that changed was that no new Novice, Advanced or Tech Pluses were issued after that date, and all Tech Pluses were scheduled to become Techs upon renewal.

The main reason I upgraded to General in July 2000 was because my amateur radio activity consisted of using my Tech Plus privileges in the former Novice HF CW frequency assignments. The information I had at that time seemed as if at some point I would lose credit for having passed a 5 w.p.m. Morse exam and be precluded from operating there. At the time I didn't have a viable SSB transmitter or any VHF/UHF FM gear.

My concern was without merit. "Novice Refarming", and then some, was adopted by the FCC and all Technicians received HF CW privileges similar to those of General Class licensees on 80, 40, 15, and 10 meters. There is still some <20 wpm Morse CW activity to be found in the 7.105 to 7.125 MHz slot.