I wish to comment on the FCC proposals on Amateur Radio.

I strongly support the adoption of the ARRL's proposal for

Amateur Radio 'streamlining'. Using Class A,B,C,D 

put the United States in line with other countries Amateur 

Radio licensing classes.

To keep Amateur Radio alive and thriving, it is 

imperative to get more hams on the HF bands. I support the 

concept of a 5 WPM code test and a written test to move from 

Technician to General.

This would mean that any Technician Plus could 

become a General by taking the General written exam. Any "granfathered" 

Technician, one who had passed the 5wpm and the combined 

General/Technician written test would automatically become a General.

To move to the Advanced and Extra Classes I believe that a 12

WPM code test along with the appropriate written exams should

be used.

Adding questions to all element question pools 

covering newer technologies (Amateur Television, Packet, AMTOR, 

RTTY)is the right thing to do. And as technologies such as 

Spread Spectrum and LAN protocols become more common place in 

Amateur Radio, questions should also be added to the written 

elements. The Novice sub-bands should be handled as 

proposed in the ARRL's streamlining plan. Use these Novice sub-bands to 

expand the current phone bands on each band.

I also believe that a VE who is a General Class 

Amateur should be able to give exams up through General Class, and 

that Advanced Class Amateur VEs should be able to give exams up 

through Advanced. This would ease the burden of having so many Extra 

Class VEs  present at each test session.

I thank you for your time and consideration of my 

comments.

Robert E. Biekert KA5GLX an Extra Class Amateur 

Radio Operator

Bob Biekert KA5GLX Houston Texas

biekert@swbell.net

http://www.clarc.org