David Coursey, N5FDL, is Executive Editor of ZDNet's Anchor Desk online newsletter. You may remember his column from last October: "Broadband from the electric company? No thanks" Dave K1ZZ -----Original Message----- From: Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ Sent: Tuesday, January 20, 2004 8:32 AM To: 'David Coursey' Subject: RE: League No-Code Proposal David, thanks very much for your supportive words. We expect to file the petition with the FCC in about a week. It would be great to get some exposure for the proposals outside the existing amateur radio community. While I came in via that route myself and understand the advantages, there are a couple of problems with a non-renewable Novice. One is FCC workload; if the license is non-renewable and not reobtainable, they have to keep track of that. If it's non-renewable but you can get it back by passing the test again, that adds processing. Because there are existing Novice licenses (and one of the objectives of the ARRL proposal is to clean up "legacy" license classes) they would have to be made non-renewable as well, which takes something away. Finally, if someone's needs are fully met by the Novice license (or whatever it ends up being called) it's debatable whether the public interest is served by forcing them "up or out." On the other hand, because there would be no Morse barrier between Novice and General we expect a fairly high incidence of upgrading. Another member has suggested that Novice call signs should be systematically assigned and Vanity calls reserved for General and Extra. That's not part of the ARRL proposal, but is an interesting idea; we do know that attractive call signs turned out to be a big incentive for some to go for the Extra. Thanks again. 73, Dave Sumner, K1ZZ -----Original Message----- From: David Coursey [mailto:david@coursey.com] Sent: Tuesday, January 20, 2004 2:58 AM To: K1ZZ@arrl.net Subject: League No-Code Proposal Hi Dave: I am not wild about the process that led us to this point-how many years did Morse Code remain a barrier?-but I wholeheartedly support the League's proposal to further streamline Amateur Radio licensing, I did not see this in the proposal, but was there any consideration of returning the "novice" license to non-renewable status, perhaps with a special set of callsigns? I think there is something to making the entry license a stepping-stone rather than a destination. On a related issue, I'd like to see more public service-related questions in the VE pools as a way of making sure licensees take their community responsibilities. Maybe someday we will have an "Extra" exam with options for tech or public service questions. Gee, take a first responder, an ARECC, and an ICS class and get an Extra license for free. :> That would really improve out skill level out in the field. This won't happen, but.... Anyway, the licensing proposal is leadership-quality work. The sort of stuff we pay our dues for. 73... David, N5FDL