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| The award-winning monthly publication of The Baltimore Radio Amateur Television Society P.O.Box 5915 Baltimore, MD 21282-5915 |
March, 2010
FCC Notice of Proposed Rule Making to Revise and Clarify Vanity Call Sign Rules Open for Comments
Late last year, the FCC issued a
Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) --
WT Docket 09-209 --
seeking to amend the Commission's Amateur Radio Service rules to clarify certain rules and codify existing procedures
governing the vanity call sign system, as well as revise certain rules applicable to club stations. Interested parties
may make comments on the NPRM in the following ways: via the
Federal eRulemaking Portal or via the
FCC's Web site. Comments must be submitted by March 26,
2010; reply comments are due no later than April 12, 2010.
NCVEC Releases Second Technician Question Pool
In January, the Question Pool Committee (QPC) of
the National Conference of Volunteer Examiner Coordinators (NCVEC)
released the 2010 Technician (Element 2) Question Pool. Upon further review of the pool,
members of the QPC found and corrected more than 50 minor typographical errors and clarified the questions and answers,
making them easier to understand. These adopted changes are now incorporated in a revised question pool. The
errata list, as well as the revised
Technician question pool, is available on the NCVEC Web site. The previously released pool dated January 4,
2010 is invalid for use. The newly revised Technician question pool will become effective for all examinations
administered on or after July 1, 2010; it will remain valid until June 30, 2014. The current Technician question
pool that became effective July 1, 2006 will expire June 30, 2010. The new Technician pool contains approximately
400 questions, from which 35 are selected for an Element 2 examination; it will contain graphics and diagrams,
something new for this element. The current
General class question pool was effective July 1, 2007 and is valid through June 30, 2011. The
current Amateur Extra class pool was effective July 1, 2008 and is valid until June 30, 2012.
FCC Allows Robotic Device in Amateur Band
In January 2008, a company called ReconRobotics filed a request with the FCC for a waiver of Part 90 of the
Commission's Rules with respect to the Recon Scout -- a remote-controlled, maneuverable surveillance robot
designed for use in areas that may be too hazardous for human entry. A waiver is required to permit licensing
of the Recon Scout because the device operates in the 430-448 MHz band, which is allocated to the Federal
Government Radiolocation service on a primary basis, as well as the Amateur Radio Service and certain non-federal
radiolocation systems on a secondary basis. More than two years later, the FCC
granted the
waiver request in the form of an Order (WP Docket No 08-63), subject to certain conditions.
ARRL Rookie Roundup
Three Rookie Roundups will be held each calendar year. In 2010, look for the ARRL Rookie Roundup fron 1800-2359 UTC on
April 18 (SSB), August 15 (RTTY), and December 19 (CW).
| March, 2010 |  |
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