BE Informed No. 57

AMATEUR OPERATOR PRIVILEGES-REQUIREMENTS DISCONNECT

   With their composite 1618 pool questions, our VECs have very ably identified the knowledge base required to operate properly amateur stations, anywhere the FCC regulates our amateur services, at any time, under any condition of demand for their services.  There is, however, a major disconnection between the pool content for - and the privileges authorized to - the entry level Technician Class operator.   This is also evident, although to a lesser extent, for the General Class operator pool.   

    Under the current rules, the only differences of real significance between Technician, General, Advanced and Amateur Extra Class operators are additional frequency privileges.  To maintain 850 questions for the General (350) and Amateur Extra (500) question pools means having to include questions that should have been asked in the Technician (350) pool. 

SOLUTION  There appears to be at least three approaches from which to choose to achieve a more cogent balance between operator privileges and requirements:

Option No. 1.  Adjust the number of questions specified for each a question set so as to correspond with the privileges afforded.  As privileges stand under the present operator class privilege structure, there should be something like a 100 question test for Technician, 15 questions for General and only 5 questions for Amateur Extra.  This option would very likely encourage upgrading, but would greatly diminish new licensees.

Option No. 2.  Trim back the privileges for Technician and General Class operators so as to reflect the VECs' current question pools.  For example, the matter of RF electromagnetic field safety is not addressed fully until the Amateur Extra Class pool.  This is so, even though Technician Class operators are also authorized the maximum power level on those frequency bands of most concern to human exposure.  Although an understanding of the terms PEP and ERP are necessary to comprehending the threshold for an environmental evaluation, they are absent from the Technician Class pool.  The prudent solution would be to decrease their transmitter power standards to below the threshold of concern for safety.  Taking away privileges, however, are always very unpopular with licensees.

Option No.  3.  Permanently grandfather all current licensees at their current privileges.  Renew - but do not issue new - licenses.  Create, instead, a new operator license class structure of, presumably, three new classes: beginner, intermediate and expert, with more rational escalating privileges.  A 40 question test for the beginner, 40 questions for the intermediate, and another 40 questions for the expert might be appropriate.  The privileges-usage assumptions adopted by the VECs in maintaining their pools would make an excellent starting point for the architecture of a suitable structure. 

CONCLUSION  The VECs should make known their assumptions known in detail so that examinees, policy formulators, instructors, examiners and training material providers can benefit from their trailblazing work.          

July 14, 2010

Supersedes all prior editions