[KYHAM] Fw: ARLB008 FCC Now Processing Amateur Radio Vanity Call Sign Backlog

[n4dit]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "ARRL Web site" <memberlist at www.arrl.org>
To: <n4dit at insightbb.com>
Cc: <Subscribed ARRL Members:>
Sent: Friday, February 09, 2007 4:33 PM
Subject: ARLB008 FCC Now Processing Amateur Radio Vanity
Call Sign Backlog


SB QST @ ARL $ARLB008 ARLB008 FCC Now Processing
Amateur Radio Vanity Call Sign Backlog

ZCZC AG08 QST de W1AW ARRL Bulletin 8  ARLB008 From
ARRL Headquarters Newington CT  February 9, 2007 To all
radio amateurs

SB QST ARL ARLB008 ARLB008 FCC Now Processing Amateur
Radio Vanity Call Sign Backlog

The FCC has resumed processing new Amateur Radio vanity call
sign applications. An initial stab at whittling down the backlog began
February 8 -- five weeks to the day after the Wireless Telecommunications
Bureau (WTB) issued the last vanity call sign prior to the resumption.
The Commission stopped processing new vanity call sign applications
received on or after December 18 while it readied the Universal Licensing
System (ULS) vanity application software to accommodate a December
15 rule change to discourage the filing of multiple applications for the
same call sign. The FCC has continued to accept new vanity applications
and to process vanity renewals. A WTB staff member, speaking on
background, told ARRL the Commission could be back on track by next
week.

''We've resumed processing, and by next week we'll be caught up,'' said
the staffer, who conceded that the FCC's ULS software had not been fully
tested to ensure it could deal with the multiple-applications issue when the
new rule's December 15 effective date rolled around. ''We knew the date
was coming, but the software wasn't quite ready.'' The Commission could
complete processing of applications that have been sitting in the queue as
early as February 12.

As of February 9, the WTB appeared to have granted some 125 vanity call
sign applications submitted between December 18 and December
22. Another 500 or so applications remain in the queue.

The FCC this week also issued a public notice to announce the formal
implementation of the multiple applications rule, 97.19(a)(1), effective
February 8. The notice said the ULS would limit individuals to filing only
one vanity call sign application on the same day.

''In the case where an applicant files multiple vanity call sign 
applications
on the same day, only the first-filed application will be considered for the
process, and the additional applications will be dismissed,'' the FCC said.
'This new process will eliminate the possibility of an applicant having more
than one application for the same call sign being considered on any one 
day.''

The Commission is likely to receive an avalanche of new vanity call sign
applications after February 23, when elimination of the Morse code
examination requirement is expected to spur a massive influx of license
upgrades.

The FCC is processing new vanity call sign applications now in the queue
in the order they were received. Typically, it takes 18 days from the time 
the
FCC receives a vanity application until the call sign is issued -- or the
application is denied. The current vanity call sign fee, payable for new
applications as well as renewals, is $20.80 for the 10-year license term.
NNNN /EX

This email was cleaned by emailStripper, available for free from
http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm