SB QST @ ARL $ARLB088
ARLB088 Amateur restructuring details possible by year's end

ZCZC AG88
QST de W1AW  
ARRL Bulletin 88  ARLB088
From ARRL Headquarters  
Newington CT  November 12, 1999
To all radio amateurs 

SB QST ARL ARLB088
ARLB088 Amateur restructuring details possible by year's end

Knowledgeable sources in Washington say the amateur license
restructuring issue has moved to the front burner at the FCC, and a
Report and Order could be released before the end of 1999.

The Amateur Radio community has been awaiting license
restructuring--known officially as the 1998 Biennial Regulatory
Review of Part 97 (WT Docket 98-143)--for nearly one year now. While
no one has mentioned a hard-and-fast date to wrap up the
long-awaited proceeding, reports from several sources suggest that
the RO draft is in its final stages and could be complete within a
month or so.

During a recent a visit to top FCC officials in Washington, League
officials pressed again for early action on the license
restructuring rulemaking. They were assured that the issue was not
stalled and that the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau was ''working
very actively'' to move restructuring along.

There is no information on what the anticipated Report  Order will
contain.

The restructuring debate generated more than 2200 comments to the
FCC, many of them from individual amateurs. Once the FCC approves
the Report  Order, a Public Notice will be issued, and the actual
R&O will be released probably within a few days.
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