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It seems that the South African authorities have dropped their recent
licencing proposal and replaced it with a new one. Their existing licencing scheme in South Africa has a Full (ZS call) licence and a Restricted (ZR call) licence, the latter having privileges above 30 MHz only, both taking the same theory test, but the ZS calls having to pass a 12wpm code test. IOW, exactly as the UK A and B licences were back when I first got a UK licence. The authorities in South Africa reacted to the demise of the ITU code test requirement in a truly bizarre way, by suggesting a third class of licence with a ZT call, with a 5wpm code test and limited HF privileges. This has been shelved, due to what they say were a large number of comments. No such licence will now be implemented, so don't expect to hear any ZT calls anytime soon. Instead, they are proposing a dual route to a full licence, offering a choice between either an advanced theory test or a code test for each candidate. This was proposed by many people in many countries whilst there still was an ITU requirement for a code test, but this is the first time I have seen it resurface since it ended. If South Africa does implement it, they will be the first and probably only country to do so. They are also proposing to give the same limited HF privileges that they would have given to the new licence, to the existing restricted licence instead, without any addtional testing. 73 de Alun, N3KIP |