**Industry Canada Introduces Alternatives to Morse Requirement for HF**
In July 2003, the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) 2003 held
by the ITU in Geneva, Switzerland, deleted the mandatory
international requirement for proficiency in Morse for access to the
HF bands below 30 MHz. The revised International Radio Regulations
leave it up to individual administrations to decide whether to retain
or delete Morse as a national requirement. Since July 2003, more than
25 administrations have deleted the Morse requirement for HF access.
Immediately following WRC-2003, RAC conducted an Internet survey of
Canadian amateurs on whether Canada should retain or delete Morse.
66% of the statistically significant response of more than 1300
Canadian amateurs either recommended deleting, or would accept
deleting, the mandatory Morse qualification, but also recommended
other changes. This resulted in discussions between RAC and Industry
Canada, following which RAC formally submitted a proposal to the
Department recommending, among other things, that the mandatory Morse
Qualification be deleted but also that it be retained as a voluntary
qualification for reciprocal operations in countries that have not
deleted the Morse requirement.
Per Canada Gazette Notice DGRB-003-05 dated 30 July 2005, Industry
Canada has adopted elements of the RAC "Proposal on Morse Code and
Related Matters" and has removed the mandatory requirement for the
Morse Qualification for access to the HF bands below 30 MHz.
Effective immediately, HF operation on the bands below 30 MHz has
been authorized by Industry Canada for:
a) amateurs who were certified with only the BASIC
Qualification prior to 2 April 2002;
b) amateurs who have been certified with both BASIC
and ADVANCED Qualifications;
c) amateurs with only the BASIC Qualification who
were certified after 1 April 2002, and who achieved a pass mark of
80% or greater;
Those amateurs with only the BASIC Qualification who were certified
after 1 April 2002, but who achieved less than an 80% pass mark, will
either have to qualify in Morse, write the Advanced or re-write the
Basic examination to obtain HF privileges. This latter requirement is
related to a decision to increase the BASIC examination pass mark to
ensure that candidates have been tested in all areas of the syllabus.
Amateurs who need to confirm their examination marks should contact
their Accredited Examiner. Accredited Examiners are required to
retain marks for at least three years.
Also effective immediately, the pass mark for the BASIC Qualification
has been raised from 60% to 70%.
Amateurs wishing to have their certificates annotated with a Morse
Qualification may still do so by passing the Morse examination at 5
Words Per Minute.
Holders of only the BASIC Qualification may now construct, install
and operate transmitters from kits that have been commercially
designed and packaged. BASIC-only holders still are not authorized to
modify or install and operate modified commercially manufactured
equipment.
The above changes and others have been incorporated in revised RICs 2
and 3. All amateurs should review and keep on hand these revised
documents.
RIC-2, Issue 5, dated July 2005, Standards for the Operation of
Radio Stations in the Amateur Radio Service, is available at: http://
strategis.ic.gc.ca/epic/internet/insmt-gst.nsf/en/sf05478e.html
RIC-3, Issue 2, dated July 2005, Information on the Amateur Radio
Service, is available at: http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/epic/internet/
insmt-gst.nsf/en/sf05478e.html
======
Jean-François Ménard / VA2VYZ
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