December 12, 1990 Dear Fellow Amateurs, The document which follows the form feed character at the end of this letter is a petition requesting that the American Radio Relay League, Amateur Radios official "lobby," petition the Federal Communications Commission to change the licensing rules for the Amateur Radio Service. The current five tier licensing structure in the United States is by far the most complex in the world. It has contributed to such a general lack of growth in Amateur Radio that a code free license is being given serious consideration as a means of protecting our frequency allocations. Since the "Incentive Licensing" plan as proposed and championed by the ARRL back in 1967, "to upgrade the quality of amateur radio operators," has in that respect been a dismal failure and since many of the amateur operators directly effected by Incentive Licensing (those who held General Class licenses prior to Incentive Licensing) viewed Incentive Licensing as a "land grab" pure and simple (compared to the amateur population as a whole the League officers and staff did have a grossly disproportionate number of Amateur Extra Class Licenses at the time) this proposal would scrap Incentive Lincensing. If you support this petition then please answer the questions, sign it, and send it to the ARRL headquarters at the following address: American Radio Relay League 225 Main St. Newington, CT 06111 Please upload this petition to your favorite packet systems and electronic bulletin board systems and share it with your friends. NOTICE TO SYSOPS: Please post this file in an Amateur Radio or Hobbies directory if you have one. This proposal was originated by William C. Wells, WA8HSU. If you have any questions or comments please send them to me by mail. I'm good in any Call Book since 1985. If you want a reply please enclose an SASE. I have been a licensed Amateur since 20 March 1963. I upgraded to Amateur Extra Class on 1 December 1990. PETITION I (your name) ______________________, an Amateur operator since (year) ________ petition the American Radio Relay League to sponsor and support a proposed rule change to modify the Amateur Radio Licensing structure to reduce the number of license classes from five to four and make the Amateur Extra Class a "status license" only. I propose that the license qualifications and privileges be as follows: 1. NOVICE CLASS with current Novice class privileges, two year term, and renewable one time. The qualifications for this license being 5 WPM code test plus element 2. 2. CLASS B with full privileges below 3.500 MHz and above 21.450 MHz and ALL allocated frequencies between 3.500 MHz and 21.450 MHz, CW mode only. The qualifications for this license being 5 WPM code plus elements 2 and 3. 3. CLASS A with full privileges. The qualifications for this license being 10 WPM code plus elements 2, 3, and 4. 4. AMATEUR EXTRA with the same privileges as the class A plus eligibility for a 1 x 3 call in the W or K blocks after 20 years as a licensed amateur, eligibility for a 1 x 2 call in the W or K blocks after 30 years as a licensed amateur, and eligibility to serve as a volunteer examiner. All current Novice class licenses to be good until their current expiration and then renewable for 1 two year term. All current Technician class licenses to be good for Class B privileges and to be automatically converted to Class B licenses upon renewal or modification. All current General and Advanced class licenses to be good for Class A privileges and to be automatically converted to Class A licenses upon renewal or modification. All current Extra Class licenses to remain Extra Class licenses. PLEASE ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS 1. I an an ARRL member. ____YES ____NO 2. I am a former ARRL member. ____YES ____NO 2A. I left the ARRL because of Incentive Licensing. ____YES ____NO 3. I believe that this proposal, if adopted, will stimulate activity on 160 meters, 12 meters, and 10 meters. ____YES ____NO 4. I believe that this proposal, if adopted, by allowing full CW privileges for Class B licensees will aid them in upgrading to the Class A license. ____YES ____NO 5. I currently hold the ________________________ class license. ________________________________ ___________________ _______________ Signature Call Sign Date