[TowerTalk] QCWA Petition filed with FCC to undo an injustice

[Paul McInnish - K4BET]

Frank, you as the Southeastern Division Director for the ARRL, and I as
a long time life member of ARRL are earnestly requesting the ARRL
support the petition that has been filed by the QCWA with the FCC to
undo an injustice that was committed by the FCC many years ago.

Here is the URL address if you would like to get more info on the
petition:

http://www.qcwa.org/press.htm

By a copy of this e-mail to a large number of my fellow ham friends &
associates, I am requesting they contact their Division Director and
voice their opinion as soon as possible.

The recent changes in the licensing structure added salt to this wound! 
What is fair is fair!  In so much as the ARRl supported the
restructuring decision by the FCC recently and now should help undo the
previous injustice.

Remember in 1967 & 1968 how the ARRL supported the "incentive licensing"
restructuring?  Now is the opportunity for the ARRL to go back and help
undo a grave mistake and injustice.

Unfortunately, many, many old timers that were affected by the 1968
decision are now silent keys but those that are still alive can be given
back that what was taken from them!

When the FCC announced its license restructuring decision just about a
year ago, one of its main concerns was that no currently licensed hams
would lose any privileges. That was not the case in 1968, when the FCC
enacted "incentive licensing." Thousands of General, Conditional, and
Advanced Class hams lost operating privileges as the HF ham bands were
carved into subbands for different license classes. Many hams are still
upset, and now, the Quarter Century Wireless Association says the FCC
should give back those privileges to any hams who lost them, and who
haven't upgraded in the intervening 32 years.

In a petition for rule making filed late October, QCWA asked the FCC
to require VE's to grant credit for Element 4 -- the Extra
Class written exam to anyone holding a pre-1968 Conditional, General,
or Advanced Class license. This would essentially allow those hams an
"instant upgrade" to Extra without taking an additional exam. The group
admits there are "at most a few thousand amateur operators" who would
benefit from the proposal, but it says its primary goal is
"a prompt ending of the injustice being suffered by those within its
constituency."

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