ARLA/CLUSTER: FCC recusa a concessão de licenças vitalícias aos radioamadores americanos

[João Costa > CT1FBF]

FCC says 'No' to lifetime Amateur Radio licenses

The FCC has denied the petition of an Arizona radio amateur, who had
petitioned for lifetime Amateur Radio licenses.

Mark F. Krotz, N7MK, of Mesa, had filed his Petition for Rule Making
(RM 11760) with the FCC last November, and the FCC invited public
comments in February.

Krotz wanted the FCC to revise Part 97.25 of its rules to indicate
that Amateur Radio licenses are granted for the holder's lifetime,
instead of for the current 10-year term. Hundreds of radio amateurs
commented on the petition, but the FCC was not swayed by those
favoring the idea.

"Based on our review of the record, we are not persuaded that the
petition discloses sufficient grounds for the requested rule change,"
the FCC said in a June 21 Order. "Krotz's primary argument is that
extending the term of amateur licenses to the lifetime of the holder
would reduce the Commission's administrative and personnel costs, but
it is not clear to us that the proposal actually would enhance
administrative efficiency." That's because the vast majority of
license renewals are submitted online and processed automatically by
the Universal Licensing System (ULS), "with minimal staff
involvement," the Order said.

The Order can be found on the web in PDF format at,
http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2016/
db0622/DA-16-707A1.pdf

The FCC said it had further reduced its overhead by no longer
routinely mailing out paper licenses. "[I]f license terms were
extended to the holder's lifetime, we likely would receive more
cancellations on account of the licensee's death, which are
labor-intensive, because staff must carefully verify the deceased's
identity and licenses in order to guard against erroneous
cancellations," the FCC said in its Order, signed by Wireless
Telecommunications Bureau Deputy Mobility Division Chief Scot Stone.

Krotz argued that the General Radiotelephone Operator License (GROL)
already is issued on a lifetime basis, but the FCC said that's not a
comparable situation, because an Amateur Radio license is both an
operator's license and a station license, "and there is no Commission
precedent for issuing a lifetime station license."

In 2014 the FCC granted lifetime credit for examination elements 3 and
4, but applicants seeking relicensing under that provision still must
pass examination element 2. The FCC pointed out in its Order that this
was done to address the concerns of commenters that a licensee who had
not renewed also may not have maintained or expanded his or her
knowledge and skills.

Fonte: ARRL