The FCC has denied several petitions for changes to the amateur rules.
Arizona ham Mark Krotz, N7MK, wanted the Commission to issue lifetime amateur licenses in order to help cut administrative expenses, according to the ARRL Letter. But the FCC noted that the vast majority of current license renewals are processed by computers and that it had already reduced costs significantly by ending the routine issuance of paper licenses.
EdwinWhidbee, N0ECN, of Missouri, had petitioned
for the authorization of low-power experimental activity on amateur
frequencies, and separately to have the Commission delegate to bureau chiefs
the authority to act on certain requests for exemptions, waivers rulemakings
regarding new technologies or new applications of existing technologies. The
Commission, in both cases, essentially said that these are solutions in search
of problems; that there is already a structure for licensing experimental
activities and that the bureau chiefs already have quite a bit of delegated
authority.