I don't remember the FCC ever before issuing a news release about a report and order without releasing the Report and Order along with it. Maybe the administrative help took off early for a Christmas party or something. I suspect we'll see the Report and Order on Monday, with rule changes to be published in the Federal Register, and effective 30 days after publication.
The laws governing administrative procedures for government agencies require the rule changes be published in the Federal Register, require notification periods, etc. I rather suspect that somehow all the I's didn't get dotted and the T's crossed in time to get the R&O out on Friday. But the bottom line is this: the FCC has to BY LAW follow their administrative procedures for rule changes. Because of that, I'm fairly certain that the changes did NOT take effect yesterday -- the only official word was a news release saying the R&O was approved. The R&O wasn't released, and until they actually CHANGE the rules, the old rules are still in effect. As far as giving no-code techs CW-only HF privileges -- that's not all that odd. This order isn't about restructuring license privileges, it was simply about dropping code requirements for licensing. Had they NOT given Techs all the privileges of the Tech-Plus (which differ only in the code requirement which is being obsoleted), it would have created an inconsistency. However silly it may seem (although personally, I think it's a good idea) to give no-code Techs CW privileges, doing so provided the simplest way to make a consistent rule change... unlike the recent R&O which created two accidental inconsistencies (the J3D bandwidth issue, and the digital automatic control subband in a place where digital isn't permitted). I'm glad to see that they caught this potential inconsistency before the R&O was finished. 73, - ps Bill McLaughlin wrote: > I thought the convention was 30 days to effectivity after the > announcement? Although the "press release" is not the conventional > methodology the FCC usually uses to announce a R&O. Unless I am daft > (which may well be), isn't it ironic that the code requirement will be > dropped for Techs who will now have code-only privledges only below 28 > MHZ (the old Novice/Tech-Plus HF privs)? > > Bill N9DSJ > >
