[ETSList] Vanity Callsign processing to resume

[Drew Moore]

==>AMATEUR RADIO VANITY CALL SIGN PROCESSING WILL RESUME JANUARY 4

The FCC has announced that routine processing of Amateur Radio vanity call
sign applications will resume Wednesday, January 4, 2006. The Wireless
Telecommunications Bureau (WTB) suspended vanity processing in September as
an indirect result of its hurricane-related extensions of certain regulatory
and filing deadlines. The Commission said licensees or applicants needing
relief beyond the initial extension periods should follow the process for
submitting waiver requests provided in §1.925 of the Commission's rules.

"The Bureau will consider additional relief related to the hurricanes on a
case-by-case basis," the FCC said December 19 in a public notice.

Earlier this year, the FCC announced it would extend filing and regulatory
deadlines for licensees in parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas
and Florida directly affected by hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma. During
the extension periods, the WTB temporarily suspended certain automated
licensing functions. These included dismissing applications that are
returned and not amended on a timely basis, changing the status of a call
sign from active to expired if a license is not renewed within the two-year
grace period for Amateur Radio licensees, and issuing vanity call signs.

In September, the FCC said it had to suspend routine vanity call sign
processing because the extensions included the two-year grace period and
could conceivably affect the vanity program.