Coy, here's the skinny. This required some file box wading, but it is interesting. In January of 1994, ARRL filed a Petition for Rule Making, RM-8418, proposing a lifetime OPERATOR Amateur license. The purpose was that, if a person left Amateur Radio for personal reasons and decided to come back later, his or her operator license would still be in effect, and the station license, which may have lapsed by that time (because the Communications Act limits station licenses, but not operator licenses, to ten years) and the call sign would be gone, the licensee could simply file a form 605 (610 at that time) to get the station license back and a new call sign. We argued that the pressures of business and family commitments often deprive people of the opportunity to dedicate time to Amateur Radio, but there are often times when former licensees wish to recommence the avocation. This was a simple means to accomplish this. FCC released an NPRM in WT Docket 95-57, declining to propose the ARRL plan, but proposing instead exam credit for former licensees. This was NOT what ARRL had proposed; it was only what FCC thought was being proposed. Our proposal was for a lifetime Amateur operator license. The FCC's proposal was to allow the operator license to expire. We filed comments and reply comments (copies attached) rearguing our lifetime operator license proposal, and noting the difference between its proposal and ours. It was like talking to a brick wall. Finally, in April of 1997, FCC released a Report and Order, denying its proposal for exam credit for former licensees, citing a few of the comments opposed to the proposal, and giving our lifetime operator license proposal a one-line note, but no substantive analysis. Our Comments, reply comments and the FCC order are attached for a refresher course on the subject. 73, and Happy New Year to all. Chris W3KD -----Original Message----- From: dsumner@arrl.org To: arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org Sent: Sat, 23 Dec 2006 4:51 PM Subject: [arrl-odv:15012] Re: Lifetime License There is some history on this, but Chris is in the Cayman Islands for the next several days and I will not be in the office again until at least January 3, so I don't think it will be possible to provide the whole story in the next few days. Briefly, a lifetime operator license is possible under the Communications Act but a lifetime station license is not. Because the two are combined in a single document in the case of an amateur license, providing for a lifetime operator license is somewhat problematic. ARRL petitioned for a lifetime operator license in 1994. I can't quote chapter and verse as to what happened other than that it wasn't adopted. Dave K1ZZ From: Coy Day [mailto:n5ok@arrl.org] Sent: Sat 12/23/2006 9:25 PM To: arrl-odv Subject: [arrl-odv:15009] Lifetime License Has anyone posed the question of a lifetime license for US radio amateurs? Is it practical? Coy -- Coy Day, N5OK 20685 SW 29 Union City, OK 73090 405-483-5632 ________________________________________________________________________ Check out the new AOL. Most comprehensive set of free safety and security tools, free access to millions of high-quality videos from across the web, free AOL Mail and more.