It seems that ever since the ARRL made its restructuring proposal,
many of my fellow Anti-Code-Testers have jumped onto the ARRL
restructuring bandwagon. The NCVEC submitted a new proposal that
seemed to piggyback on the ARRL's proposal instead of sticking to the
old proposal. What happened? I thought that eliminating the Morse
Code testing requirement was the #1 most important thing in
restructuring. Would there still be an alleged need to upgrade
Technicians to General if the ARRL hadn't suggested this?

Is there any reason to support this idea other than the alleged needs
to
1. Reduce the number of license classes to 3
2. Introduce a new entry-level license
3. Avoid downgrading privileges

I fully agree with #3, the need to avoid downgrading privileges. #1
and #2 individually sound reasonable. But insisting on meeting all
three of these goals requires that Technician licensees be
automatically upgraded to General. If it's that essential that there
only be 3 license classes, then why not keep the Technician license
and upgrade the current Novices to Technician? If a new entry-level
license is necessary, then what's wrong with having 4 license classes
instead of 3? What's wrong with compromising on #1 or #2?

Can anyone provide any other reason why Technicians should be upgraded
to General? I realize that there are some Technicians from before a
certain date in 1987 who passed the General exam, but I the
restructuring of 2000 allows them to upgrade without taking a single
exam. The current General exam question pool has always been much
more advanced than the Technician exam question pool and is a great
deal larger. Today's No-Code Technicians haven't had to study the
General exam material, which goes into substantial depth on HF issues.
The General exam has always been separate from the Technician exam.
While most of the current Amateur Extra question pool was covered in
the old Advanced question pool, you can't argue that most of the
current General question pool was covered in the Technician question
pool. Upgrading Advanced licensees to Amateur Extra in the interest
of merging license classes sounds reasonable due to the similarity
between the two classes. But upgrading Technician licensees to
General is too extreme given the wide gulf in required knowledge. (I
realize that there are Technicians with more know-how than some
Amateur Extras, but these Technicians should have a big advantage on
the General exam.)

I've heard some defenders of this upgrade argue that No-Code
Technicians should have HF privileges. But eliminating the Morse Code
exam requirement would give the No-Code Technicians all Novice/Tech
Plus privileges and also make it easier for them to upgrade to
General. I realize that Novice/Tech Plus privileges on HF are
extremely limited, but that can be resolved simply by expanding these
privileges. These more modest measures would address the rationale
for the automatic upgrades WITHOUT resorting to such extremes.

I advocate eliminating the Morse Code testing requirement because its
unilateral authority makes no sense. But the written exams do make
sense because they are relevant to operating. Not every question will
be relevant to everyone, but many will be. I don't believe the
General exam poses an undue burden on No-Code Technicians. The
questions are all multiple-choice, the question pool is public
information, and no one topic or question has the unilateral authority
of the Morse Code testing requirement. The more experienced and
knowledgeable Technicians won't have to expend much effort in studying
in order to upgrade. The current written exams aren't perfect, but I
can't think of a better system that wouldn't pose an undue burden on
applicants, VEs, or the FCC.

Jason Hsu, AG4DG