US amateurs may soon have to re-certify their licenses if proposed legislation is enacted. This legislation is a consequence of the US participation in the CEPT T/R 61-01 agreement. The initial request for participation was initiated by the US State department in September 1997. The Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) reciprocal licensing agreement allows amateurs of participating countries instantaneous operating privileges in any member country. (Editor's note: See the W1AW Bulletin on page 7)
In principal, the agreement is simple. While in a participating foreign country, a visiting amateur would operate using their own callsign and a prefix indicating the country of operation. Examples would be G/W1AW for England, or TA/KF1APR for Turkey. Currently there are over 20 signatories to T/R 61-01 including most of Europe and New Zealand.
Amateurs are required to obey the governing regulations of both their country of origin and the country of operation at all times.
What appears to be a win-win situation becomes clouded when the sub-clauses of T/R 61-01 are examined in detail. A series of actions are required once approval is granted by the CEPT's European Radiocommunications Office (ERO) before participation can begin.
Of paramount importance in the "Implementation of Participation" agreement is the requirement that "All amateurs prove compliance with [home] member nation regulations and maintain technical competence through regular demonstrations of proficiency in their license class".
Sources in the Wired Telecommunications Office of the FCC indicate that this obstacle will result in significant changes to US amateurs before T/R 61-01 can be implemented. Currently the US requires no regular retesting before renewing an amateur license.
All that will change over the coming months. Amendments to Part 97, the governing body of regulations for the amateur community, will drop the duration of an amateur license from 10 years back to the 5 year term that was in effect prior to December 1983. Amateurs currently in their fifth through ninth years of their license term would expire upon implementation of the changes and would have to renew their licenses before operating in either the US or a CEPT T/R 61-01 country.
Renewals will no longer be as simple as filling out a Form 610 and mailing it to the FCC. Each amateur will be required to re- take the amateur examination elements commensurate with their license class. Technician licenses would be required to take written elements 2 and 3A, the Novice and Technician theory, while Amateur Extra class licensees would be required to take, and pass, all five written tests and the 20 WPM Morse code test before their license will be renewed. Failure to pass the required elements will result in a reduced license class or even loss of license.
The 2 year non-operating grace period becomes moot in the wake of the retesting program and will be eliminated. Provisions will be included in the regulations to allow amateurs who make "good faith" attempts to re-certify in a timely fashion (indicated by 2 or more examinations sessions attended within 90 days of license expiration) will be allowed a grace period of 60 days after expiration during which they may operate at their original license class. If the appropriate elements are not passed within the grace period the operator class would be reduced to the highest class passed.
The FCC has not addressed concerns by the Volunteer Examiner Coordinators that the expected deluge of approximately 250,000 amateurs seeking renewal examinations would severely tax the volunteer examiner system and could result in significant numbers of amateurs losing their licenses from a lack of available sessions.
It is anticipated that the final changes to Part 97 are expected to be effective 60 days after the ERO's official notification. Final approval of the US acceptance into the T/R 61-01 agreement by the ERO is expected by April Fools Day .