[ARRL-OK] [Fwd: VANITY CALL FEE TO RISE & FCC ISSUES REVISED FORM 605]

[Eddie Manley]

Second Try

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	VANITY CALL FEE TO RISE & FCC ISSUES REVISED FORM 605
Date: 	Tue, 19 Jul 2005 22:35:15 -0500
From: 	Eddie Manley <jema1 at pcwan.net>
To: 	ARRL Oklahoma Section List <arrl-ok at mailman.qth.net>



From:  Eddie Manley - K5EMS
REPRINT .............

===> VANITY CALL SIGN APPLICATION FEE TO RISE
The regulatory fee to apply for an Amateur Radio vanity call sign will 
go up slightly later this year, an FCC Order indicates. A Report and 
Order and Order On Reconsideration (R&O) in the assessment and 
collection of regulatory fees for fiscal years 2004 and 2005 released 
July 7 increases the fee for FY 2005 to $21.90 for the 10-year license 
term. The FCC said it had adjusted FY 2004 "payment units" for each 
service to better reflect expected FY 2005 payment liabilities.

"We tried to obtain verification for these estimates from multiple 
sources and, in all cases, we compared FY 2005 estimates with actual FY 
2004 payment units to ensure that our revised estimates were 
reasonable," the FCC said in the R&O. "Where appropriate, we adjusted 
and/or rounded our final estimates to take into consideration the fact 
that certain variables that impact on the number of payment units cannot 
be estimated exactly."

In a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in the proceeding last 
February, the Commission had proposed keeping the vanity call sign fee 
at its current $20.80. The fee rose from $16.30 to $20.80 last August. A 
reevaluation in the number of anticipated vanity call sign 
applications--or "payment units"--accounts for the latest fee hike.

In its February 2005 NPRM, the Commission had estimated it would receive 
8000 vanity applications during FY 2005. This month's R&O reflects a 
downward recalculation to an anticipated 7600 vanity applications--up 
only slightly from a year earlier--so the fee had to be raised to meet 
FY 2005 revenue requirements.

While the R&O does not specify the effective date of the change, this 
generally occurs 30 days after the R&O's publication in The Federal 
Register, which hasn't happened yet. In past years, the effective date 
has been in August or September.

More information on vanity call signs is available on the ARRL Web site.


==>FCC ISSUES REVISED FORM 605, OBSOLETES PREVIOUS EDITIONS
A revised FCC Form 605, "Quick-Form Application for Authorization in the 
Ship, Aircraft, Amateur, Restricted and Commercial Operator, and General 
Mobile Radio Services," has gone into effect. The new form must be used 
for all receipts as of July 18.

"Applicants can avoid filing outdated editions by submitting their 
applications through the Universal Licensing System (ULS) , given that 
changes to the paper forms will be incorporated into the system 
automatically," the FCC said. The new Form 605 is available online from 
the FCC Web site .

The revised form includes a new Question 13 (subsequent questions have 
been appropriately renumbered) that will affect amateurs applying for an 
administrative update (AU) to reflect a change in licensee name. 
Question 13 now asks: "If the licensee name is being updated, is the 
update a result from the sale (or transfer of control) of the license(s) 
to another party and for which proper Commission approval has not been 
received or proper notification not provided?" Amateur Radio Service 
applicants should always answer "no" to Question 13.

Not answering the question--which has nothing to do with the Amateur 
Radio Service--could result in dismissal of an application.

For additional information or assistance, visit the FCC Help and Support 
Web page . This change does not affect the NCVEC Form 605 that VECs and 
VE teams use.
Material from The ARRL Letter may be republished or reproduced in whole 
or in part in any form without additional permission. Credit must be 
given to The ARRL Letter and The American Radio Relay League.