Before the Federal Communications Commission

Docket # RM-11828


To the Commission:


I will keep my comments brief. 

I have been a ham for 23 years and started as a Technician class licensee. I upgraded to Technician-Plus a few years later (circa 1998) because I found HF attractive. But I quickly got frustrated with trying to learn CW. In my college years, I got "hooked" on 10 meter SSB and worked to earn my General and Extra class licenses.

I believe that HF Phone privileges is a potent incentive to young operators. Unfortunately, 10 meters is not always open, and had I been pursuing other activities (sex, drugs, rock and roll, etc) in college I might have well missed out on the peak of the sunspot cycle, and abandoned the hobby altogether.

The ARRL proposal is generous. There is a part of me that thinks that adding 80 meter SSB privileges and 80 and 40 meter digital privileges would be enough to entice people; but the ARRL proposal is fundamentally a good one.

I support it and urge the Commission to adopt the proposed rule changes.

Note, I am a member of the ARRL and I believe I completed a survey on this topic. But otherwise I do not have any involvement in the ARRL leadership or committees.

Respectfully,

James Evan "Gwen" Dallas, AD5NL
Columbia, Tennessee, USA
jim.dallas@gmail.com