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.
