SB QST @ ARL $ARLB002
ARLB002 FCC Dismisses Two Petitions from Radio Amateurs

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QST de W1AW
ARRL Bulletin 2  ARLB002
> From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT  January 6, 2017
To all radio amateurs

SB QST ARL ARLB002
ARLB002 FCC Dismisses Two Petitions from Radio Amateurs

The FCC has turned down two petitions filed in 2016, each seeking similar
changes in the Part 97 Amateur Service rules. James Edwin Whedbee, N0ECN, of
Gladstone, Missouri, had asked the Commission to amend the rules to reduce the
number of Amateur Radio operator classes to Technician, General, and Amateur
Extra by merging remaining Novice class licensees into the Technician class and
all Advanced class licensees into the Amateur Extra class. In a somewhat
related petition, Jeffrey H. Siegell, WB2YRL, of Burke, Virginia, had requested
that the FCC grant Advanced class license holders Morse code operating
privileges equivalent to those enjoyed by Amateur Extra class licensees.

"Thus, Mr. Siegell's proposed rule change is subsumed within the changes Mr.
Whedbee requests, so our analysis is the same for both proposals," the FCC said
in dismissing the two petitions on January 5.

The FCC streamlined the Amateur Radio licensing system into three classes -
Technician, General, and Amateur Extra - in 1999. While it no longer issues new
Novice or Advanced class licenses, existing licenses can be renewed, and Novice
and Advanced licensees retained their operating privileges.

"The Commission concluded that the three-class structure would streamline the
licensing process, while still providing an incentive for licensees to advance
their communication and technical skills," the FCC recounted in its dismissal
letter to Whedbee and Siegell. It specifically rejected suggestions that Novice
and Advanced class licensees be automatically upgraded to a higher class,
concluding that it would be inappropriate for these licensees to "receive
additional privileges without passing the required examination elements." The
FCC cited the same reason in 2005, when it denied requests to automatically
upgrade Technician licensees to General class and Advanced licensees to Amateur
Extra class, as part of a wide-ranging proceeding.

The FCC said the two petitions "do not demonstrate, or even suggest, that any
relevant circumstances have changed that would merit reconsideration of those
decisions."

Whedbee had argued that automatically upgrading current Novice and Advanced
classes would simplify the rules and reduce the Commission's costs and
administrative burden, but the FCC said Whedbee provided no evidence that an
administrative problem exists. "Moreover, such benefits would not outweigh the
public interest in ensuring that amateur operators have the requisite incentive
to advance their skill and technical knowledge in order to contribute to the
advancement of the radio art and improvement of the Amateur Radio Service," the
FCC said.

"The Commission has already concluded that it will not automatically grant
additional privileges to the discontinued license classes," the FCC said.
"Consequently, we conclude that the above-referenced petitions for rulemaking
do not warrant further consideration at this time."

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/EX

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