Here's my submission to the FCC.

Can we have just post our comments here and take the editorials to
other threads, Ladies and Gentlemen?


73

Steve, K4YZ

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Commission, Greetings,

The issue of whether or not to remove Morse Code competency
testing has been a heated and hotly contested issue for years. Many
persons cite the evolution of new technologies and methodologies of
communications as having made Morse Code "archaic", while on the
otherhand some demand it's retention as "traditional".

There is certainly precedent for allowing Amateurs access to the
HF spectrum (below 30Mhz) without Morse Code competency, however this
respondent believes that dropping it completely will be an overall
detriment to the Amateur Radio Service.

The Basis And Purpose of the Amateur Radio Service as outlined in
Part 97 provides that the Amateur Service shall provide a trained pool
of radio operators for emergency service. And technology
notwithstanding, Morse Code remains the simplest, most easily deployed
communications mode available to Amateurs worldwide. To drop this
requirement simply because military or commercial users no longer use
it is foolhearty.

However I am in favor of allowing access to the HF allocations
without the benefit of a Morse Code examination with the restriction
that non-Morse tested Amateurs not be allowed access to those parts of
the spectrum wherein voice (wideband) modes are not permittted.
Without the basic skills of being able to recognize whether or not they
are potentially interfering with other communications, the non-Morse
tested operator should be restricted to areas wherein they will have
less likelyhood of causing such interference.

I thank you for this opportunity to participate in the rule-making
process.


STEVEN J ROBESON, LPN
Amateur Radio Licensee K4YZ