FCC Proceeding to Expand Technician Privileges

I happened upon an essay by Tom Salzer, KJ7T on the internet yesterday. It seems that there was a petition filed with the FCC in 2018 that has not seen any action. This petition would add selected frequencies to the Technician license class for digital and phone operation. Tom’s writeup is excellent, so see it and the FCC Petition RM-11828 for the details.

This proceeding has over 1300 comments and only a very few are negative. Perhaps with a concerted commenting effort, we could push the FCC to take action on this proceeding. I wrote a comment which I copied below. Feel free to use my text as is, improve it with your own thoughts or create your own original submission.

Quoted below are my thoughts, which I submitted as a comment on RM-11828, as to why the FCC should approve and implement this proceeding.

I wholeheartedly support the adoption of FCC proceeding RM-11828.  In my opinion, expansion of the Technician license class privileges in the digital and voice modes, will increase the number of new amateur radio licensees and help to retain new licensees as radio amateurs.  Much of the experimentation and growth in amateur radio is happening in the digital modes.  These modes connect radio and computer hardware / software to increase the relevancy to new and younger amateur radio operators.

The Technician license is now the entry level license.  It does not lapse like the old Novice license and force the licensee to upgrade.  Accordingly, I believe that the Technician license should offer more meaningful HF, digital and voice privileges.  This will allow those who choose to not upgrade more meaningful license privileges and to contribute to the growing areas of the hobby.

Proceeding RM-11828 has sat dormant for much too long.  There is nearly universal support for this proceeding as evidenced by the “Top Filing Types” sidebar on the proceedings page. With the current FCC position of reducing the backlog of proceedings, this is an easy one to resolve in favor of the proceeding.

Sincerely,
Jim Edmondson – AE5JE

Thank you for considering this request, whether you agree with me or not!