About half of all U.S. radioamateurs hold a
Technician Class license. Judging by the sales
of General Class study material, they are looking
forward to getting on HF without the need to pass
a Morse Code exam. Thousands of Element 3 study
guides are been purchased! This week lets cover
some questions and answers of special interest to
the beginning Amateur Radio Class.
Q. I am a Novice Class operator. What’s in it for me?
A. The new rules greatly expanded the spectrum on
which Novices (and Technicians with code credit)
may use CW on the HF bands. The Novice 80 meter
CW band now extends from 3525 to 3600 kHz. This
is a gain of 25 kHz over the previous 80m (3675
to 3725 kHz) Novice segment. You may also
operate on 40 meters from 7025 to 7125 (a gain of
50 kHz), on 15 meters from 21025 to 21200 kHz (a
gain of 75 kHz) and from 20.0 to 28.5 MHz on the
10 meter band (a gain of 100 kHz.)
One downside is that Novices (and Technicians
with code credit) can expect higher power
competition from General and higher class
operators since they are no longer restricted to
200 watts PEP on the above bands. They may radiate up to 1.5 kW PEP.
Although General and higher license class
operators received additional phone (voice)
spectrum on December 15, the Novice Class did
not. The 28.3 to 28.5 MHz (10 meter SSB),
222-225 MHz (1.25 meter) and 1270 to 1295 MHz (23
cm) segments continue to be the only bands where
Novices may operate in the voice mode. Novices
are restricted to 200 watts PEP below 28.5 MHz,
25 watts on 222-225 MHz and 5 watts in the
1270-1295 MHz subbands. (Technicians may use
power levels up to 1500 W on the 1.25 m and 23 cm
band but are also limited to 200 W on ten meters.)
Q. I am confused. Can you spell out exactly how
Technician Class operators benefitted from WT
Docket 04-140 and WT Docket 05-235.
A. WT
Docket 04-140 did not have a big impact on
the Technician Class. It essentially allocated
more spectrum to General, Advanced and Extra
Class voice (phone) operations. The frequencies
were made available by switching around
(“refarming”) what was previously Novice
spectrum. The effective date of this change was December 15, 2006.
The frequency bands available to the Technician
Class (those without code credit) were not
affected. Techs still have all frequency
privileges at 6 meters and higher. And Techs
with code credit still have access to the HF
bands that was available to Novice and Tech Plus
operators although the exact frequencies have been changed and expanded.
WT
Docket 05-235 essentially eliminated Morse
code testing in the US Amateur Service for all
license classes. The entry level into US ham
radio continues to be the Technician Class which
is achieved by passing the 35 question Element 2
multiple choice written exam. When this
rulemaking becomes effective (30 days after
publishing in the Federal Register ...about
February 15) Technicians may upgrade to the
General Class by simply passing the 35 question
Element 3 examination. By the same token,
existing General and Advanced Class operators may
upgrade to Amateur Extra by passing the 50 question Element 4.
The greatest benefit to Technician Class
operators is that once the new rules are in
effect, all Technician licensees - whether or not
they have passed a Morse code examination - will
have "Tech Plus" operating privileges. This
means that in addition to all VHF/UHF and above
frequencies, Technicians will have access to the
Novice/Technician Plus frequencies on HF. You
can bet that the 10 meter (28.3 to 28.5 MHz)
phone segment will become super congested very quickly!
Q. There are six Amateur Classes in existence
today: Novice, Technician, Tech Plus, General,
Advanced and Amateur Extra. What element credit
is given for holding a specific license when
upgrading.
A. Agreed this can be confusing. In one case,
examination credit depends on when the applicant
passed his/her Technician Class exam. An
examinee is considered to be currently licensed
if their license is still within the 2 year grace period for renewal.
(1.) Novice Class operators do not receive any
examination credit towards the Technician,
General or Extra Class license. Novices must
pass Element 2 to become a Technician Class
licensee; Element 2 and 3 to become General
....and 2, 3 and 4 to upgrade to the Extra Class.
(2.) All currently licensed Technicians
(including Tech Plus and Technicians with code
credit) get examination credit for Element 2 and
must pass Element 3 to upgrade to General (and 3
and 4 to obtain Amateur Extra.) But there is an exception to this.
(2A.) A Technician Class operator with a current
or expired license document dated before March
21, 1987, receives Element 3 credit and may be
upgraded by a local VE team on the spot without
further testing. If an applicant does not have a
copy of an old license, other documentary proof -
such as a photocopied page from an old call book
- will suffice. All license class upgrades in
the Amateur Service may only occur at a test
session. So it follows that these so-called
“paperwork only upgrades” must be initiated by a VE team.
The applicant simply completes an NCVEC Form 605
and gives it to the VE team along with the
licensing evidence. The team will approve the
upgrade and forward to their VEC. The upgrade
application may not be sent directly to the VEC
or FCC. Another test session fee is due on a
“paperwork only upgrade” from the applicant even
though the examinee is not actually tested.
The reason for giving Element 3 credit to an “old
Tech” is that prior to March 21, 1987, passing
both written Element 2 and 3 was a requirement
for the Technician Class license. The only
examination difference between the Technician and
General Class license back then was the Morse
code speed test. Technicians had to pass Element
1(A) - 5 wpm code, while General Class examinees
were required to pass Element 1(B) 13 wpm. (The
original Novice requirement back then was passing
5 wpm code and written Element 2.)
As part of the “1987 Novice Enhancement”
proceeding, the FCC split the old Element 3 into
two sections. Element 3(A) - a 25 question exam
- contained the VHF-oriented questions and became
a requirement for the Technician Class. General
Class applicants had to pass the 25 question
Element 3(B) test which covered HF operation.
As part of the “Amateur
Service Restructuring” on April 15,
2000, Element 3(A) was essentially renumbered to
2 ...and 3(B) became Element 3. (The Novice and
Advanced Class licenses were discontinued and
some old questions and topics found their way into other question pools.)
(3.) Currently licensed General and Advanced
Class operators receive examination credit for both written Element 2 and 3.
(4.) Certificates of Successful Completion of
Examination (CSCE) are also valid for
examination credit providing they were issued
within the past 365 days. Many radioamateurs
earned CSCEs awarding Element 3 credit when they
took the General Class written exam in
anticipation of the code being eliminated. (That
is, after the NPRM proposing to end code testing
was issued on July 19, 2005.) Several expired
when the FCC didn’t issue the Order until more
than a year had elapsed. These CSCEs are
invalid, cannot be used for exam credit and the holders must retake Element 3.
If the Element 3 written exam credit is valid,
the VE team will issue the candidate a CSCE for
the upgrade to a General Class license and the
holder may immediately begin using their new
General Class privileges. As per Part 97,
Section § 97.119(f)(2), these applicants must
append their call signs with the “interim AG”
designator until the FCC data base indicates the upgrade.
Q. I am going to take the General Class written
exam at a local VE test session. Can I change my call sign at the same time?
A. Yes, you can but not to a Vanity
call sign. A Vanity call sign is one where
you pay a small fee to select the format and
characters contained in your station call
sign. It is issued for ten years after which
time it must be renewed and another fee paid. Certain
rules apply to which call signs you can
select. Vanity call signs must be applied for
separate from the VE test session.
If you check the box on the NCVEC
Form 605 application that says “Change
my call sign systematically” you will be
issued the next available 2-by-3 format call
sign. (There is no fee for a systematically
changed call sign.) It will start with a “K”
since all of the 1-by-3 “N” prefix call signs
were assigned and those that have expired are not being picked up.
There is no advantage to obtaining a new
systematically changed call sign since all new
amateurs already have one that has an older
format. As a Technician or General, you
are eligible for a 1-by-3 call sign starting with K, N or W.
There are three
ways to apply for a Vanity call sign and you
do not have to wait until you upgrade to General
to get a 1-by-3 format call sign since
Technicians and Generals both qualify for a Group
“C” call sign. You can file the Vanity call
sign application yourself electronically (using
your computer), you can file a paper document
copy manually or you can have the W5YI
Group handle everything for you. Since the
filing procedure is somewhat confusing, thousands
of radioamateurs have had us do the filing. You
can determine available
call signs by querying the FCC’s or other
online databases. You can also call 800-669-9594 if you have any questions on the Vanity Call Sign System.
Q. I want to upgrade to General. I hear that
there is going to be a newly revised question
pool. What study material do I purchase?
A. The current General
Class question pool will remain in effect for
another 6 months ...until July 1, 2007. On that
date, the new revision must be used in all
Element 3 (General Class) examinations. You
should be able to upgrade with as little as a
week or two of reviewing the questions and
answers. The new rules should be in effect by
the time you finish your study. W5YI
exam locations and ARRL
testing opportunities are widely available.
The W5YI Group distributes the Gordon
West line of study aids. You can purchase
them online with product delivery within 3 or
4 days. The GWGM General Class study
manual is $17.95 plus shipping. You can also
order by telephoning (toll free) to
1-800-669-9594. The new Element 3 question pool
will cover essentially the same things as the
current pool, but the questions and multiple
choices will be substantially different. Study
manuals for the newly revised Element 3 pool
should be available about May 2007. The
Technician (Element
2) question pool was revised last year (2006)
and remains valid until July 1, 2010.
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