[Dx-qsl] Re: [dx-list] KH0N / vanity calls

[Alan Zack]

Thanks for your comments Paul.  As I mentioned in another email I 
kept Jim, AH2D, informed on all the illegal going ons I observed 
in the Philippines.  Jim did complain to the FCC but nothing ever 
came of it.

To quote from your post: "I agree with you 100%.  I can go to 
Hawaii, take the US tests up to Extra class and I'll get issued a 
KH6xxx call that the computer
 spits out.  I then can apply for a vanity call and get something 
like
 KH7X (were it available) and have a P.O. Box number anywhere in 
the
 US (doesn't have to be Hawaii) that someone will check every now 
and
 then."  But please also allow me to add this:  If you didn't go 
to Hawaii but instead another country outside the USA you could 
get the U.S. Extra Class license WITHOUT ever being tested.  Your 
paperwork is just signed off and submitted, no exam is ever 
given.

Along the same lines, because of their former commonwealth 
status, Filipinos were allowed to join the U.S. Armed Forces, 
mainly the Navy.  They would apply and be tested at the former 
U.S. Bases in the Philippines, now closed.  Many stayed for 20 
years, served faithfully, became U.S. citizens, then retired and 
moved back to the Philippines for their retirement. 
Surprisingly, many of these retirees drawing their military 
pensions lived to be 100, 110, even 120 years old.  Yes, they 
would die in their 70 or 80's but their families would continue 
to receive and cash their pension checks for years and years 
after their death.  From time to time the U.S. Embassy may go to 
the person's home (if they could find it in the case of PO Boxes) 
and certify the 120 yr old person receiving the pension checks 
was still alive.  It was up to the person's family to notify the 
US Navy when the retiree dies, but why should they?  They could 
continue to receive the pension check for years and years and 
what could the U.S. Gov't do to get the money back?  They were 
dealing with non U.S. citizens in a foreign country, there was no 
chance of getting the money back.


_______________________________________________________
Alan Zack
Amateur Radio Station K7ACZ
Official USCG Auxiliary Comm Station
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Delta Rocket Quality Engineer, The Boeing Company, Retired
Aviation Chief Warrant Officer,  U.S. Coast Guard, Retired
U.S. Coast Guard, Always Ready, Always There
Every hour, Every day, Around the Clock and Around the World
SEMPER PARATUS
http://www.geocities.com/k7acz
http://gocoastguard.com
http://www.uscgradio.net
http://www.comm-one.org
http://patriotfiles.org/CoastiesRule.htm
http://images.military.com/Video/050617_CGClip.wmv
http://images.military.com/Video/051007_CoastGuard.wmv
http://www.quarters-one.com/lipsBill.html
http://www.quarters-one.com/lipsOldSchoolRecruiting.html


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Paul M Dunphy" <list_dx at ve1dx.net>
To: "DX List" <dx-list at yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, June 20, 2007 5:54 PM
Subject: Re: [dx-list] KH0N / vanity calls


> At 08:30 PM 20/06/2007, you wrote:
>
>>Alan:
>>
>>Your post didn't get much of a response, so I'll weigh in. 
>>This is
>>something that has bothered me for years.  Is there any other
>>country in the world that lets non-resident, non-citizens not 
>>only
>>take their country's licensing exams on their own soil, but 
>>also
>>have access to their most desirable callsigns through a vanity
>>program ?  I'm not sure if KH0N is a vanity call, but a lot of 
>>them
>>did go to foreign hams.  The 1x2 callsign I was trying to get 
>>when
>>Gate 2 opened in 1996 went to a fellow whose email address 
>>ended in
>>".de" but had a mailing address in Texas, and who applied
>>electronically at the last minute.  Where do you think he lived
>>?  Shouldn't we be reserving our most desirable callsigns for 
>>some
>>high school kid in Akron or Topeka, rather than a foreigner who 
>>may
>>never need to set foot in the US in order to use our reciprocal
>>licensing agreements ?  I do have much less of a problem with 
>>DX
>>hams getting our 2x3 callsigns, just leave them out of the 
>>vanity opportunity.
>>
>>I don't really fault the DX stations taking advantage of what 
>>we
>>allow them to do - it's our fault for opening the loophole. 
>>Maybe a
>>start would be when the time comes for renewing the bogus US 
>>vanity
>>call, the renewal would need to come with a rent receipt, 
>>utility
>>bill, car registration, ANYTHING with both the licensee's name 
>>and
>>the USA address on it.
>>
>>Three guesses about how I feel about the illegal immigration 
>>issue...
>>
>>Stu        KC1F  (hopefully to be "JA1F" if all goes well)
>
> Stu,
>
>     I don't think many touched it because it is a political 
> issue as
> much as it is Ham radio related.  As a Canadian I really have 
> no
> business commenting on US call sign allocations, but I will
> anyhow.  As Ron, W3WN, pointed out, ask KH2D (who now is a W4 
> in
> disguise) about it.
>
>     I had many discussions with Jim (KH2D) on this issue and, 
> having
> spent 16 years in Guam, he certainly understood the issue. 
> Some day
> when you are bored, go to QRZ.COM and start poking in WH2, KH2, 
> NH2
> and AH2 calls with one letter suffixes.  See what you come up 
> with in
> terms of a pattern.  KH2D and others pointed all of this out to 
> the
> FCC a number of years ago and the fact of the matter is that it 
> is
> completely legal.  As long as the call is associated with a US
> mailing address, and there is reason to believe the holder of 
> the
> call will get any mail sent to that address forwarded to them, 
> then
> it's legal.
>
>     Good luck getting a 2X1 call if you move to Guam . . . 
> which has
> a resident Ham population of about 5, but yet there are no 
> "good"
> Guam calls left.  You can pull up stakes, buy a house in Guam 
> and
> settle in for life, and you can likely get KH2YJL, but you are 
> not
> going to get a 2 X 1.
>
>     Do other countries allow it?  When I started typing this I 
> was
> certain Canada did.  A well known VE1 call with a 2-letter 
> suffix was
> listed with an address in the New England states for at least 
> 15-20
> years, and this was so as recently as a year ago -- because the
> holder was a US citizen who lived here for a while, got a 
> Canadian
> call and moved back to the US.  I see that it now shows up as a 
> Nova
> Scotia address, so either he moved back here in the last year 
> (his
> intent was to eventually return to Canada when he left about 
> 15-20
> years ago) or someone complained enough and he has a person 
> here
> handling his mail.  Either way, for the 15-20 years he was in 
> the US,
> a lot of VE1s were stuck with 3-letter suffixes because all the
> 2-letter ones were gone -- including the one I am referring to. 
> It
> sat unused in the US for 15-20 years.
>
>     I agree with you 100%.  I can go to Hawaii, take the US 
> tests up
> to Extra class and I'll get issued a KH6xxx call that the 
> computer
> spits out.  I then can apply for a vanity call and get 
> something like
> KH7X (were it available) and have a P.O. Box number anywhere in 
> the
> US (doesn't have to be Hawaii) that someone will check every 
> now and
> then.  Yes, a Canuck can hold a US Extra class call that should 
> be in
> Hawaii, has a P.O. box in Toledo and live in Nova Scotia. 
> Would I do
> it?  Never!  The point is, I can if I want, and that is unfair 
> to US Hams.
>
> 73/DX Paul VE1DX (who holds no US call, and can't imagine every 
> having one)
>
>