The
April 3 retirement of Bill Cross, W3TN, from the FCC marked the end of a long
era at the Commission. Cross, who was technically a "program analyst"
in the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, was for more than a decade the FCC's
go-to person on all matters dealing with amateur radio. He was also the primary
author of all Notices of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM)s and FCC Reports and
Orders relating to Part 97 proceedings.
But
Cross told the ARRL Letter that there were no plans to replace him with
another "Ham Guy," as he said most FCC staffers referred to him.
"The plan is to divide up my work among other staff members, based on
topic," he told the Letter.
Cross
also said he would not be surprised if, in the future, the number of ham radio
license classes was further reduced from its current three (Technician, General
and Extra) to two or even one, noting that the differences between the
privileges granted by each class "really are not that much." (See
this month's "Zero Bias" editorial for more on this general topic.)
