Canada Drops Morse Requirement as "Sole Additional Requirement" for HF Access
NEWINGTON, CT, July 29, 2005--Industry Canada (IC) has adopted elements of the Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC) "Proposal on Morse Code and Related Matters" and has essentially removed the requirement for Amateur Radio applicants in that country to obtain a "Morse Qualification" for access to bands below 30 MHz.
"Morse code will no longer be the sole additional requirement by which Canadian radio amateurs will gain access to the HF bands, but it will remain as one valid criterion," Industry Canada said in its Notice announcing the regulatory change. Industry Canada said it will continue to include Morse code as a consideration in granting access to the HF bands. "However, this is only one criterion and the measure of HF operator abilities should not be limited to this one facet of operator skills," IC added.
Effective immediately, amateurs certified with the Basic Qualification prior to April 2, 2002, and amateurs certified with both Basic and Advanced Qualifications may operate on the HF amateur bands. Licensees holding only the Basic Qualification who were certified after April 1, 2002, and who achieved a passing grade of at least 80 percent also are allowed to operate on HF.
Amateurs certified with the Basic Qualification after April 1, 2002, who did not achieve a score of at least an 80 on the examination will either have to attain the Morse Qualification, write the Advanced test or rewrite the Basic examination and obtain at least an 80 percent grade to obtain HF privileges.
This last requirement is related to a decision to increase the passing grade for the Basic examination to ensure that candidates have been tested in all areas of the syllabus. Details of the Industry Canada decision are in the Canada Gazette Notice and on the Latest News page of the RAC Web site.
FCC Amateur Service rules in §97.107(b) grant Canadian control operators "the operating terms and conditions of the amateur service license issued by the Government of Canada" but, in any case, not to exceed the control operator privileges of an FCC-licensed Amateur Extra class operator. §97.107 does not apply to US citizens who may hold Canadian amateur licenses, however.
Page last modified: 04:54 PM, 29 Jul 2005 ET
Page author: awextra@arrl.org
Copyright © 2005, American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Previous: NCVEC Takes No Action in Response to FCC Rule Making Proposals
Next: Surfin': More Widgets for Ham Radio
