We have used the greatly enhanced spectral capabilities of the Expanded Very Large Array to observe both the 22.3 GHz continuum emission and the H66 \alpha recombination line toward the well-studied Galactic emission-line star MWC 349A .
The continuum flux density is found to be 411 \pm 41 mJy in good agreement with previous determinations .
The H66 \alpha line peak intensity is about 25 mJy , and the average line-to-continuum flux ratio is about 5 % , as expected for local thermodynamic equilibrium conditions .
This shows that the H66 \alpha recombination line is not strongly masing as had previously been suggested , although a moderate maser contribution could be present .
The He66 \alpha recombination line is also detected in our observations ; the relative strengths of the two recombination lines yield an ionized helium to ionized hydrogen abundance ratio y ^ { + } = 0.12 \pm 0.02 .
The ionized helium appears to share the kinematics of the thermally excited ionized hydrogen gas , so the two species are likely to be well mixed .
The electron temperature of the ionized gas in MWC 349A deduced from our observations is 6,300 \pm 600 K .