[K3PZN-List] FCC EXPIRENCING COMPUTER PROBLEMS ISSUING NEW HAM LICENSES

[Al Bisasky K3ZE]

FROM THE ARRL WEBSITE 11/08...

NEWINGTON, CT, Nov 8, 2004--The FCC has stopped issuing Amateur Service
license grants while it attempts to unravel an apparent computer programming
glitch. The FCC posted a public alert on the Universal Licensing System
(ULS) site on November 5. At this point, no one seems to know when the
problem will be fixed.
"The granting of Amateur applications has been temporarily suspended," the
FCC announcement says without further explanation. "We apologize for the
inconvenience." The Commission has given no indication when processing might
resume, but when it does, the FCC likely will pull back more than 125 Group
D (2x3) amateur call signs it mistakenly issued out of sequence and grant
the applicants new in-sequence call signs. Although they eventually may be
set aside and replaced, all call signs showing up in the ULS database remain
legal.

The difficulties began October 28, when the FCC implemented a ULS software
change that caused applications to be processed improperly. ARRL Volunteer
Examiner Coordinator Manager Bart Jahnke, W9JJ, says the FCC was forced to
stop processing amateur applications after attempts to correct the initial
error only seemed to make things worse. "The FCC is still trying to get its
arms around the problems," he said this week.

For some as-yet-undetermined reason the October 28 modification caused all
amateur applications from the nation's VECs to be shunted into "Pending 2"
status, flagging them for manual review without any justification.

By November 2, the FCC thought it had things under control again, and it
reprocessed all the applications in the queue. At first blush, all looked to
be in order, Jahnke said, but closer inspection revealed that the system had
failed to grant some routine requests for new sequential call signs. "By the
afternoon, we realized that the FCC had erroneously begun issuing new Group
D call signs in several districts from altogether new call sign blocks--out
of sequence from where processing in those districts had last ended," Jahnke
said.

While the first and third call districts were unaffected, the FCC apparently
jumped from issuing call signs in the KC2Nxx sequence to the WQ2Axx
sequence, Jahnke said. It also had assigned WQ4xxx, WQ5xxx, WQ7xxx and
WQ9xxx call signs. In the eighth district, there was a gap between KD8xxx to
KM8xxx call signs, while in the tenth district the Commission went from
KC0Txx to WI0Axx. In the sixth district, the sequence shifted from KG6Wxx to
KI6Axx.

The ARRL VEC has been working with personnel in the FCC's licensing branch
to identify where the FCC had been in the call sign sequences, where it had
jumped to and where it was supposed to be.

Jahnke says the problem appears to have affected only Group D call signs. He
emphasized that any call signs the FCC issued are in the ULS database and
therefore are valid, and licensees may use them on the air.

"Just don't get too familiar with them," he advised. "It is our
understanding that at some point, the FCC will set aside the out-of-sequence
grants and issue new call signs to affected licensees."