rjr@mgweed.UUCP (Bob Roehrig) (07/18/84)
qst de k9eui hr bulletin nr 54 from arrl headquarters newington ct july 12 1984 to all radio amateurs bt fcc today acted on four items of interest to amateurs, 1. the commission adopted rules to permit the recoupment of expenses by volunteer examiners, ves, and volunteer exam coordinators , vecs. the rules provide for considerable flexibility on the part of ves and vecs and do not require that either party be necessarily reimbursed. vecs will be permitted to make estimates of anticipated expenses to establish a fee structure. if actual expenses are less for the year, the vec will be allowed to simply reduce fees accordingly in the following year. 2. acting on a number of petitions for reconsideration of its volunteer examination rules, the commission adopted a number of minor changes. the most significant of these is that vecs will be permitted to design their own exams in accordance with a commission supplied formula. the revised rules envision, two years in the future, permitting ves themselves to design exams. 3. fcc adopted a notice of proposed rulemaking, nprm, in which it is proposed that non-government hf broadcasters licensed by the fcc in itu region 3, for example guam, be permitted for the first time to use 7100 to 7300 khz. 4. fcc adopted another nprm that proposes to revise part 73 of its rules to eliminate the existing requirement that broadcast stations obtain prior fcc permission before rebroadcasting amateur radio transmissions. at the same time, fcc proposes to clarify its amateur radio rules to make it clear that amayeur radio stations may not, even in an emergency situation, be used to supply communications on behalf of the media. the full texts of these actions are expected to be released within 10 days. both nprms will allow 60 days from the date of their publication for comments. prospective commenters should refrain from filing comments until they have seen the full text. ar