Richard,

I doubt anyone has questioned the direction of Morse testing. The only
question is when. It may be sooner than I had guessed (I guessed a couple -
2 - of years).

73 from Rochester, NY
Jim AA2QA

"rsm" wrote in message
...
From the CQ Newsroom:

"The National Council of Volunteer Examiner Coordinators (NCVEC), the
umbrella group that writes the amateur radio licensing exams, today
filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission to
eliminate Morse code testing for amateur radio licenses in the United
States and other FCC-administered areas."

"Citing the decision by the 2003 World Radiocommunication Conference
to make Morse testing optional on a country-by-country basis, the
NCVEC noted that the United Kingdom and Switzerland had already acted
to end Morse examinations; stated that the Morse exam continues to be
a barrier to "otherwise qualified individuals" who want to become
hams; that it is a burden to applicants and examiners alike, and that
code proficiency should not be used to determine who may operate
voice. It asked for the immediate elimination of the Element 1 (code)
exam requirement for any class of amateur license."

"The NCVEC petition also calls for the FCC to grant Novice HF
privileges to current Technician Class licensees."

"The FCC has not yet given the proposal a rulemaking number, so it is
not yet possible to file comments. We will keep you posted when this
occurs."

I believe this determines the future of code testing.

Richard
AA3VX


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