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FCC Proposes Abolishing Morse Code Requirement
TaxSlave writes "According to this ARRL article, the Federal Communications Commission has finally decided which path it wants to take with the Morse Code requirement for an amateur radio license. International requirements for Morse Code were done away with some time back, and several countries quickly abolished the requirement. Now, the FCC has proposed doing the same thing. Next step, months of comments, discussion, and navel-gazing."
The Commission said it believes dropping Element 1--the 5 WPM Morse examination--would "encourage individuals who are interested in communications technology, or who are able to contribute to the advancement of the radio art, to become amateur radio operators."
Was learning Morse so much of an obstacle for new members? Personally, I had to learn Morse long time ago, and it's not hard at all.
On the other hand, maybe with the development of the digital technologies, the analog radio technology potential members are just not bothering looking into it.
The FCC said it did not believe a new entry-level license class was warranted because current Novice and Tech Plus licensees already can easily upgrade to General. "We also note that, if our proposal to eliminate telegraphy testing in the amateur service is adopted," the FCC continued, "a person who is not a licensee will be able to qualify for a General Class operator license by passing two written examinations, and that a person who is a Technician Class licensee will be able to qualify for a General Class operator license by passing one written examination." The FCC said it does not believe either path to be unreasonable.
Written examinations? Nobody has to type the Morse anymore? Anyone here who got his license recently care to shed some light on this one?
It is here.
I think it might get more people into the hobby to get rid of the requirement. It's not hard to learn Morse code, but it does present a *seemingly* daunting task to anyone who gets an interest in amateur radio. Not mention you can automate both the transmission and reception of it.
It is digital. Being digital has nothing to do with how many characters are involved. The only criteria is that the transition between characters is instantaneous, rather than a continuous variation. Duh.
That seems to be the ARRL's attitude, since they just about demanded the FCC maintain the code requirement. The prunes are right next to the honeymush.
"Well, good luck finding a judge that doesn't run a bestiality site."
Amateur radio has basically become a service organization, providing emergency communications when the crap hits the fan. In our area, our Ham radio club provides communications for both the Red Cross and the Salvation Army, and acts as a backup communications system for the normal communications channels if they are overloaded or unavailable.
I feel that the Morse requirement definitely hinders the ability of amateur radio to serve in this capacity. A good example of this happened to us a couple of years ago when we were providing communications for the Red Cross during a Forest Fire in the local area which required evacuations. The Red Cross has a policy that their workers have to have available communications at all times to ensure they can contact emergency help when needed. In the area where the forest fire was, there was no cell coverage, so we were providing communications. Also due to the location, the coverage of our VHF (144Mhz) repeater was marginal at best. As a result, we had to rely on 80meters at 3.880 Mhz. The only operators who can work on the 80meter band are operators who have passed the morse test and also a written test. This eliminated about half of the operators at our disposal just because they were not of the correct license class.
Eliminating the Morse requirement would have increased this pool since most operators are able to pass the General Class test with some studying. Morse code is much more difficult, and is really not neccessary. I learned 5WPM code and got my Tech Plus License and then shortly (after another change to the rules) upgraded to Extra. Today, I operate fairly regularly on the HF bands, but I couldn't read morse code if I wanted to since it doesn't interest me and I haven't kept up with it.
You must remember that no everyone lives in NYC or Philly or Toronto or Sydney. I know of folks who can't get cable tv. I know folks where the only internet is satellite IF their location allows it. I know folks who still use rotary phones. Many places have their land lines and power lines still hanging from poles, not buried underground. Come a blizzard, ice storm, hurricane, or just plain wind, they lose one or both. There are plenty of places around here (western NC USA) where they'd have to put a cell tower on every ridge before the coverage was reliable. Amateur Radio is not limited to towers or power grids or whether or not you paid your ISP. HF bands can reach around the world. Most repeaters for VHF have battery backup. If someone you know is in a disaster area, good look trying to find them on the internet, by cell or by landline. But you can contact the Salvation Army and their teams of hams (aka SATERN) can get the information for you (called Health and Welfare) I like being able to at least listen in during an emergency, letting them know I am there if needed. I have been able to warn folks of events long before the commercial radio or TV announced it. KG4VPY
You've been able to get a no-code tech license for a good number of years now. You should go out and get one, regardless of the outcome of this particular FCC decision.
WRCT Pittsburgh, 88.3FM
97.403 Safety of life and protection of property.
No provision of these rules prevents the use by an amateur station of any means of radiocommunication at its disposal to provide essential communication needs in connection with the immediate safety of human life and immediate protection of property when normal communication systems are not available.
97.405 Station in distress.
(a) No provision of these rules prevents the use by an amateur station in distress of any means at its disposal to attract attention, make known its condition and location, and obtain assistance.
(b) No provision of these rules prevents the use by a station, in the exceptional circumstances described in paragraph (a), of any means of radiocommunications at its disposal to assist a station in distress.
The problem is that in many cases, we aren't in a situation which is described as above. We're typically handling "health and welfare traffic" which are things like "we arrived safely" or "we are going to stay here for the night" (which don't qualify) as opposed to "send an ambulance right now" (which does). Having the ability to use the HF bands to pass this traffic is just as important in an emergency response situation as the specific cases where anyone can pick up a radio (licensed or not) and use it.
In addition, amateurs are cautioned that operating outside their permissions even during an emergency may jeapordize their license. The FCC (assuming they hear about it) will likely review the situation and make a determiniation whether or not the operation fell into one of the exemptions. In short, if it's life or death, I can use anything at my disposal to attract attention. If it's not I better be prepared to explain my actions and expect to possibly loose my license or be subject to fines if the FCC doesn't agree that it was justified.
Yes, and it amazes me that anyone would consider removing the morse requirement.
...).
Benefits of Morse code:
1) Lowest signal to noise ratio of any communications system.
2) Lowest power requirements.
3) Lowest bandwidth requirement.
4) You could in theory make a transmitter out of any very simple electrical circuit (perhaps limited range, but
5) An operator can still twitch out a message even if they can speak or they're batteries are low.
I.e. for emergency communications this is simply the best fail safe method.
Removing the requirement is just as silly as removing the navigation by sextant requirement (cough, o' they did that one too!).
Anyhow, I'm not a HAM, but it seems to me they're just lowering the entry barrier for little benefit.
The NSA can't find its friggin' Boy Scout's handbook on morse code
That's because Morse Code isn't in the Boy Scout handbook anymore. Hasn't been for years, and neither has there been a Signaling merit badge (also eliminated, along with other "archaic" ones like Beekeeping, Bookbinding and Rabbit Raising). In fact, the Radio merit badge doesn't require Morse either -- it allows the Scout to choose either voice or Morse Code for his required contact in the Amateur Radio track (but no mention of alternative modes like PSK31 or image).
Even my little IC-Q7A with 0.300 watts of power can reach about half of the major repeaters in the city. My Yaesu with 3 watts can reach them all. Both do this with their little `rubber ducky' antennas, and would probably do better with better antennas.
And even if the repeaters went down, I could talk to other people in the city with these using simplex. The Kenwood in my car can reach most of the city using simplex.
Of course, to be fair, CB radio could be used similarly.
Power loss is only one danger. Hurricanes for example tend to rip up telephone lines. And what good is the Internet going to do you if your house doesn't have power? Your UPS is only good for 10 minutes, your laptop might do better but the cable modem is out. You might be able to dial into your ISP, but their main T3 is down, so you're stuck ...
The Internet is going to be one the first things to break in an emergency, even before the cell phone network.
VHF/UHF repeaters are only one small aspect of ham radio.
As for what kind of traffic is sent during an emergency, it's mostly lower priority messages. `Shelter #6 needs more blankets, Mrs Smith needs somebody to call her husband and tell him that she's at the shelter and OK, etc.' Mostly.
The police and such usually have systems very similar to the ham repeaters, and so they usually stay up during emergencies. (But the cell phone network is usually one of the first things to go down.)
Ok, let's assume this is correct for now. What now? What are you proposing we do with this revelation?
Why does it have to make sense? Emergency communications are but one aspect of ham radio. In any event, CW (Morse code) works with lower power, cuts through more interference and reaches longer distances than just about anything else, and the equipment needed is very simple. It's not normally used in emergencies, but it certainly could be.
They already have access. In an emergency, anybody (ham or not) can transmit on any frequency with any amount of power or modulation type as is needed to resolve the emergency.
However, if you can't use your equipment in a non-emergency, very few people are going to go to the trouble of buying and setting up this equipment, and there will be no opportunity to test it and become familiar with it's use without having an emergency.
Because 1) ham radio is not just for education and entertainment, and 2) why would you want to do that anyways? Education and entertainment can be done with other modes as well.
What's wrong with tubes? They're still used a lot in ham radio, and in fact they're used in radio and TV broadcasting as well.
(and that should be obvious)