John Beckman - W4BTX HAM RADIO "A PAST TIME FOR A LIFETIME"
One thing that hams offen forget is the ARRL is a BUSINESS. Their main thrust is to add more members because the more members they have the more money they make. So, like any business they are always thinking of ways to add "customers." Their laatest proposal is to give more previleges to Technicians. If you have any opinion on this now is the time to make those thoughts known.
Specifically, ARRL proposes to provide present and future Technician licensees:
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Phone privileges at 3.900 to 4.000 MHz, 7.225 to 7.300 MHz, and 21.350 to 21.450 MHz
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RTTY and digital privileges in current Technician allocations on 80, 40, 15, and 10 meters.
Under the ARRL plan, the maximum HF power level for Technician operators would remain at 200 W PEP. ARRL's petition points to the need for compelling incentives not only to become a radio amateur in the first place, but then to upgrade and further develop skills
Now numbering some 384,500 licensees, Technicians comprise more than half of the US Amateur Radio population. ARRL stressed in its petition the urgency of making the license more attractive to newcomers, in part to improve upon science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, "that inescapably accompanies a healthy, growing Amateur Radio Service."
ARRL said its proposal is critical to develop improved operating skills, increasing emergency preparedness participation, improving technical self-training, and boosting overall growth in the Amateur Service, which has remained nearly inert at about 1% per year.
The ARRL Board's ad hoc Entry-Level License Committee, which recommended the proposals, received significant input from ARRL members via more than 8,000 survey responses. So if you were not one of the 8,000 then now is your chance to voice your opinion. If this passes and you don't like it and you haven't told FCC then you have no right to complain.
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