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Subject: ARLB077 Morse exemption denied
Newsgroups: rec.radio.info,rec.radio.amateur.misc
Followup-To: rec.radio.amateur.misc
Approved: mtracy@arrl.org
From: w1aw@arrl.org
Organization: American Radio Relay League
Date: Mon, 03 Oct 1994 17:26:09 EDT
Message-ID: <$arlb077.1994@ampr.org>
Lines: 41
Xref: news.cs.tut.fi rec.radio.info:6406 rec.radio.amateur.misc:59783

SB QST @ ARL $ARLB077
ARLB077 Morse exemption denied
 
ZCZC AG42
QST de W1AW  
ARRL Bulletin 77  ARLB077
From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT  October 3, 1994
To all radio amateurs 
 
SB QST ARL ARLB077
ARLB077 Morse exemption denied
 
The FCC has denied a petition that proposed exemptions from Morse
code exams for people age 65 and older.
 
Guy A. Matzinger, KB7PNQ, argued in his petition that old age
results in diminished faculties, and equated those people 65 and
older with the severely disabled in terms of passing a CW exam.
He proposed the exemption for speeds above 5 WPM.
 
The FCC said that similar petitions had been denied in the past,
because the current Amateur Radio license structure was based on
''the desires of the amateur service community,'' based on thousands
of comments on previous petitions.  The Commission also noted that
its rules already provide for Morse code exemptions for certain
recognized disabilities.
 
Matzinger introduced the results of a survey he conducted that said
63 percent of those he surveyed supported such an exemption.  The
survey, the FCC said, provided an age profile of those surveyed but
did not say how many people were surveyed.
 
Although the petition got the usual public notice, the FCC said it
received no comments on it.
 
Matzinger is a 67-year-old Technician class licensee who lives in
Cheney, Washington.
NNNN
/EX