Under the ARRL's proposal, current Novices will have certain
privileges REDUCED. This opposes the sensible concept of avoiding
automatic downgrades for any license class. The reason for stricter
power limits is to avoid the need for RF safety questions in the new
Novice exam.

What's wrong with testing prospective Novice licensees on RF safety?
Are RF safety questions that hard? It seems like an extremely
important topic to me, and learning about RF safety doesn't seem like
an undue burden. Furthermore, RF safety is just one topic on the
written exam and doesn't have the unilateral power that the Morse Code
exams currently have. What's wrong with making the Novice question
pool 10%-20% larger given how critical this topic is and given the
need to avoid downgrading privileges of current licensees?

Admittedly, there are very few active Novices at any given moment, as
these few active ones upgrade. But the same restructuring principles
(like no downgrades) for the higher license classes should still
apply.

Jason Hsu, AG4DG