March 26, 2007 by kb3ljm.

The FCC has again refused to consider extending the limited protections for amateur antennas that it has imposed on local and state governments to private homeowners’ associations. In rejecting a petition from a group known as Hams for Action (HFA) for the Commission to override covenants, conditions and restrictions (CC&Rs) that prevent amateurs from installing antennas, the FCC repeated its stand from a 2001 decision that state and local laws are different from CC&Rs in that the latter are agreed to voluntarily. “We conclude that HFA has not presented grounds for the Commission to revisit this policy,” said a letter from Scot Stone, Deputy Chief of the Wireless Telecommunication Bureau’s Mobility Division. The letter also reiterated the FCC’s stand that if hams are able to persuade Congress to mandate the inclusion of CC&Rs under the limited pre-emption policy commonly known as PRB-1, then the Commission would “expeditiously act to fulfill its obligation thereunder.”

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March 26, 2007 by kb3ljm.

The FCC’s decision to drop Morse code tests from all classes of amateur licenses is apparently prompting thousands of people to join the amateur service for the first time, even though there has been no code test for the Technician license since 1991. The ARRL reports a huge upsurge in the number of new Technician Class licensees — sometimes 60 or 70 from a single test session, according to the ARRL Letter, with large numbers of upgrades as well. The number of exam session is way up as well. The ARRL VEC, which normally sponsors about 450 test sessions a month around the U.S., reported nearly 800 sessions had been scheduled for March, with another 600 on tap for April. And, according to VEC Manager Maria Somma, AB1FM, “it doesn’t look like test session activity will be slowing down anytime soon.”

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March 26, 2007 by kb3ljm.

The government of Iraq has shut down amateur radio operations in the country until the security situation there improves. Diya Sayah, YI1DZ, President of the Iraq Amateur Radio Society, reported in an e-mail that “all activities of amateur radio in Iraq will be suspended for unknown date or time,” and that the shutdown applies both to Iraqi citizens and to foreign hams who have been operating with YI9 callsigns. Sayah told the ARRL he had requested a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to try to clear up any “possible misunderstanding on the part of government officials as to the nature and purpose of Amateur Radio.”

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