What do you think of my idea? (I'm taking bets on how many people
flame my idea.) While I applaud the ARRL for proposing a compromise,
I think the proposal goes too far in some areas and not far enough in
others. My proposal:
1. Keep the Technician class. No-Code Technicians get free upgrades
to Tech Plus privileges instead of General privileges.
2. Eliminate the 5 wpm exam completely. The General license would
STILL require the General written exam but NOT the Morse Code exam.
The Amateur Extra license would STILL require the Amateur Extra
written exam but not the Morse Code exam. There is a pragmatic as
well as philosophical reason to eliminate the Morse Code testing
requirement: no more need to keep track of which Technicians (and new
Generals) passed the 5 wpm exam and which ones did not. (Yes, this is
essentially what No Code International proposes.)
3. Keep the current phone bands in place as an incentive to use and
develop narrowband modes like CW, PSK-31, etc.
4. If keeping Advanced licenses in the database is too much work,
then give Advanced licensees a free upgrade to Amateur Extra.
5. Do NOT reduce Novice privileges. (The ARRL proposal reduces their
allowed power output and eliminates their 23 cm privileges.) If
keeping Novice licenses in the database is too much work for the FCC,
then give all Novices a free upgrade to my proposed new Technician
class (Tech Plus).
6. If the entry-level license has too few HF privileges, then expand
HF privileges for the new Technician class rather than give all
Technicians a free upgrade to General.

I'm surprised the ARRL didn't propose something like this, as it would
be simpler. (Or the ARRL could have proposed the exact same thing I
propose here but retain the 5 wpm exam for the Amateur Extra class as
a compromise.) I think my idea would do more to simplify the FCC's
work and be just a continuation of the 2000 restructuring. I'm not
sure if the FCC will like the ARRL's proposal due to the added
complications. Remember that the restructuring of 2000 kept the same
basic license structure in place - the only real changes were
eliminating the 13 wpm and 20 wpm exams, keeping the 5 classes in
place, and stopping the issuance of new Novice, Tech Plus, and
Advanced licenses. Note that my proposal keeps the same basic license
structure in place as well. The main change is the elimination of the
5 wpm exam. I believe that the current license system is basically
OK. I can't think of a system that would be that much better WITHOUT
imposing substantial burdens on the FCC, ARRL, VEs, applicants, etc.

Jason Hsu, AG4DG
u s e n e t AT j a s o n h s u . c o m