End of an Era: FCC to Drop Morse Testing for All Amateur License Classes

In an historic move, the FCC has acted to drop the Morse code requirement for all Amateur Radio license classes. The Commission today adopted, but hasn't yet released, the long-awaited Report and Order (R&O) in WT Docket 05-235, the "Morse code" proceeding.

"This change eliminates an unnecessary regulatory burden that may discourage current Amateur Radio operators from advancing their skills and participating more fully in the benefits of Amateur Radio," the FCC said. The ARRL had asked the FCC to retain the 5 WPM for Amateur Extra class applicants only. The FCC proposed earlier to drop the requirement across the board, however, and it held to that decision in today's R&O.

Perhaps more important, the FCC's action in WT Docket 05-235 appears to put all Technician licensees on an equal footing: Once the R&O goes into effect, holders of Technician class licenses will have equivalent HF privileges, whether or not they've passed the 5 WPM Element 1 Morse examination. The FCC said the R&O in the Morse code docket would eliminate a disparity in the operating privileges for the Technician and Technician Plus class licensees -- something the ARRL also has asked the Commission to correct following the release of its July 2005 Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) in WT Docket 05-235.

"With today's elimination of the Morse code exam requirements, the FCC concluded that the disparity between the operating privileges of Technician class licensees and Technician Plus class licensees should not be retained," the FCC said in its public notice. "Therefore, the FCC, in today's action, afforded Technician and Technician Plus licensees identical operating privileges."

Technician licensees without Element 1 credit (ie, Tech Plus licensees) currently have operating privileges on all amateur frequencies above 30 MHz. Tech Pluses or Technicians with Element 1 credit have limited HF privileges on 80, 40, 15 and 10 meters. Under the Part 97 rules the Commission proposed last year in its NPRM in WT Docket 05-235, current Technicians lacking Morse credit after the new rules went into effect would have had to upgrade to General to earn any HF privileges.

The wholesale elimination of a Morse code requirement for all license classes ends a longstanding national and international regulatory tradition in the requirements to gain access to Amateur Radio frequencies below 30 MHz. The first no-code license in the US was the Technician ticket, instituted in 1991. The question of whether or not to drop the Morse requirement altogether has been the subject of often-heated debate over the past several years, but the handwriting has been on the wall -- especially since the FCC instituted an across-the-board 5 WPM Morse requirement effective April 15, 2000, in the most-recent major Amateur Radio licensing restructuring (WT Docket 98-143).

The FCC said today's R&O in WT Docket 05-235 comports with revisions to the international Radio Regulations resulting from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) World Radiocommunication Conference 2003 (WRC-03). At that gathering, delegates agreed to authorize each country to determine whether or not to require that applicants demonstrate Morse code proficiency in order to qualify for an Amateur Radio license with privileges on frequencies below 30 MHz.

The list of countries dropping the Morse requirement has been growing steadily since WRC-03. A number of countries, including Canada, the UK and several European nations, now no longer require applicants for an Amateur Radio license to pass a Morse code test to gain HF operating privileges. Following WRC-03, the FCC received several petitions for rule making asking it to eliminate the Morse requirement in the US.

Typically, the effective date of an FCC Order is 30 days after it appears in the Federal Register. If that's the case, the Morse requirement and the revised 80-meter segment for automatically controlled digital stations would likely not go into effect until late January or early February 2007. That's not clear from the public notice, however. The FCC can order its decision effective upon release.

The ARRL will provide any additional information on these important Part 97 rule revisions as it becomes available.

Knowing many FReepers are hams I thought to post this. I think in the long run it will be good for the hobby (maybe)... I happen to like CW, I'm not as fast as some old timers but it's something I can do that most people can't. So any of you out there that were interested but thought "I just don't want to learn Morse", by the end of January it's not a issue anymore. 73 steve

It's a good decision, all in all. Though I kind of wish they'd retain something like a 'Morse endorsement' to a license, so that people would still have SOME motivation to pick it up. And I'm probably much too young to be a crumudgeon, so, that's not just the 1950's speaking.

I passed my Advanced 11 years ago and *barely* scraped by the 13 wpm code limit. In fact, I think my ticket still says "Advanced" even though I should've been downgraded to a General under the new three-level system.

In retrospect, I should've pushed for the 20 wpm and gotten my Extra the "old" way. Now, I guess I'll go ahead and pass the written and get my Extra, if for no other reason than on the very rare occasions I even listen to HF anymore--basically, Field Day and that's about it--I can't remember whether I'm in the right part of the band or not! :)

I can only imagine the sheer crapstorm that's out there on ham-related boards, email lists, and on the air right now over this. I think overall it's good for the hobby, and it really is only following what's already been decided internationally, but I know a lot of hams were very violently opposed to this. I don't know why...they were saying the same thing with the Technician no-code license, and at least where I've lived, 2m has definitely not been turned into "chicken band." No-code got me into the hobby in 1992 and I'm glad it did.

}:-)4

I was a MARS Director in the late 60s. Many of the Radio Operators that I knew were already experimenting with Radio TTY and TV broadcasting. Titanic era Morse was a thing of the past then and only was necessary for transcontinental communications.

Today they speak to the International Space Station and are ready for the first Lunar contacts!

The Jetson's and Buzz Lightyear eschew Morse!

The bandwidth is a limited resource but it was my experience that the FCC should "get outta the way." A great deal of innovation will occur when they open up these bands for voice data etc.

Funny story about voice communications. One of my MARS members, who lived near Paris Texas had an antenna farm on his ranch that was the envy of all the other MARS members. He had rhombics aimed at Europe, Japan, Australia, Alaska and South America.

I met his wife and she said that they had been married over 40 years and she was jealous of his Single Sideband rig. One day I met him coming out of the BX and he stopped me and introduced himself since we had only met on the radio. We talked about things and it soon became evident that he would be a radio operator forever. Although we were speaking "face to face" he ended each of his sentences with, "Over!" Within a breath I found myself doing the same. Then his wife came out of the BX, frowned and broke up our "talk!"

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