KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog
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Should we restructure amateur radio licensing yet again?
Posted: 03 Apr 2015 12:00 PM PDT
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If one thing has been a constant in amateur radio over its first 100 years,
its been the constant changes in the licensing structure. Im not qualified
to write in detail about the history of license restructuring, but suffice
it to say that no matter how the FCC has changed the amateur radio license
structure, theres always been a lot of complaining. These complaints have,
of course, led to further restructuring.
I bring this up because Ive recently fielded a couple of comments from
readers on license restructuring. Also, an item on the ARRLs website about
the retirement of the FCCs ham guy, Bill Cross, W3TN, mentions the
possibility of restructuring.Â*In the article, W3TN is quoted as saying:
Do we really need three license classes anymore? I can see in the future
the number of license classes decreasing again — to two or maybe one —
because the differences really are not that much.
Writing about how we might get kids more involved with ham radio again, one
of my readers, Bruce, K1BG, says:
We needÂ*to go back to what worked. Â*A simple Novice test, limited power (50
watts toÂ*avoid the RF exposure documentation), HF phone privileges, and a
two year,Â*non-renewable license. Move up or move out. Â*Given todays
technology, youÂ*could take the test with a general class or higher
licensee, have him/her goÂ*online, and have a callsign (NA1AAA NZ0ZZZ,
designating that you are a Novice) the same day. Â*When you upgrade, your
call does as well. Â*Done. Â*GetÂ*the kids in, get them hooked, and move on.
I kind of like the idea of going back to some kind of Novice test that
expires in a year or two. For one thing, it would eventually clear the
database of all the Techs that got licenses and then never did anything
with them. This would give us a much better indication of the health of
amateur radio.
Perhaps the two classes that W3TN talks about could be Novice and General.
Im not sure that the little bit of extra band space awarded to Extra Class
licensees is really all that much of an incentive anymore, and some of us
remember when the Extra Class license was really only an honorary thing,
anyway. General Class licensees had exactly the same privileges as Amateur
Extra licensees.
If we really wanted to keep an unofficial Extra Class, someone (the ARRL?)
couldÂ*come up with a program to recognize hams that have gone above and
beyond. Part of it could be a test that really tests someones technical
competence. Other considerations would include technical achievements,
operating achievements, or community involvement. This would make being an
Extra Class amateur more meaningful than it is today.
So, what do you think? Would you like to see the license structure
simplified even more? Do you think such a proposal would have any chance of
getting past the FCC?
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