Monday, February 29, 2016

FCC Seeks Comment on Lifetime License Proposal


The FCC is also looking for public input on a petition by Mark Krotz, N7MK, of Mesa, Arizona, to issue amateur licenses on a lifetime basis rather than requiring a renewal every ten years. According to the ARRL Letter, RM-11760 says the change would reduce the FCC’s workload and administrative costs. It notes that the commercial General Radiotelephone Operator License (GROL) is already issued for the holder’s lifetime. The FCC has already granted lifetime credit for certain amateur examination elements (but not for others).
 
The full petition may be found on the FCC website’s Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS) area under RM-11760. The comment period closes on March 21. As with the ARRL’s 80-meter proposal, opening the petition for public comment is a preliminary step and the FCC has not yet issued – or decided whether to issue – a Notice of Proposed Rule Making to implement any or all of the requested changes.