[PPRAANet] How to get a Colorado "Amateur Call Letter" (ham callsign) license plate

[Josh Olson]

I’m going to just put this out there because it swayed my decision on not getting the call sign plates. 
If you park in a garage or someplace secure, no big deal, but if you have to park in a driveway or on the street as I do, having call sign plates are beacons to thieves that your vehicle may have high dollar goodies in it. Antennas are visible but at night can be easily overlooked by someone trolling a neighborhood but license plates stick out a lot more. Sadly in the world we live in today this kept me from getting them, but again it all depends on your situation. 

Josh O.
NØJTO

> On May 3, 2023, at 08:18, Roger Oakey <w3mix at nankoweap.com> wrote:
> 
> Thank you very much to the half dozen or so folks that replied to my question about applying for Colorado "Amateur Call Letter" license plates, it helped a lot! I figured I'd coalesce those replies along with my experience of going through the process in case anyone else wants to do this as well. For the record I went to the "Union Town Center" location at Union and Research.
> 
> I'll start with the answers to the questions I asked, which is that it costs $2 for the plate and renewals are an additional $2 fee each year. Which, as one person replied to me, "Is a deal!" compared to the normal $60 to create a personalized plate and $25 renewal fee each year.
> 
> Why the state uses the term "personalization" for an annual fee (the source of my confusion and why I sent the original email) is beyond me... The definition of "personalization" is "The action of designing or producing something to meet someone's individual requirements." In other words, a one-time thing. But it's the government and I digress...
> 
> The process itself is pretty painless. The worst part of course is sitting at the DMV, though picturing the DMV scene from "Zootopia" helps pass the time.
> 
> 1) Print out and sign an official copy of your amateur radio license from the FCC site.
> 2) Fill out Colorado form DR 2810, checking "Call Letter License Plate" in Step #3 and entering your callsign in Step #4 (see note about zero, below)
> 3) Bring the above plus your driver's license, proof of insurance and a method of payment to the DMV (I prefer checks since there's a fee to use a credit card).
> 
> Note about zero in your callsign: One person that replied to my email mentioned that "Slash zeroes" ARE allowed on amateur call letter plates (and only on those plates), but how you go about making sure that gets into the system at the DMV I don't know since I don't have a zero in my callsign. I would just make sure (somehow) that it's entered on your paperwork. My guess is that slash zeroes will be your biggest stumbling block for an inexperienced DMV agent. If in doubt, I'd ask for a supervisor.
> 
> Your total payment will be about $11 higher than you'd expect because though the plate only costs $2 more, you will get a temporary plate (your current plate is immediately invalid upon completion of the application process) which has about $11 in "fees" associated with it. The temporary plate is good for 60 days, which is more than enough time for your plate to come in the mail to you.
> 
> Note if you get a "Keep Colorado Wild" parks pass (which I did): The Colorado government doesn't know what the definition of "receipt" is, either. The annual pass costs $29. Nowhere on my receipt does it show the parks pass. The receipt total does not include the cost of the parks pass. Yet the check I had to write out was $29 more than the "receipt" total shows. That's bogus since NOT ONLY do I have NO proof that I paid for a parks pass, but I can't go to any state parks until my license plate arrives. So, no POTA for awhile. :(
> 
> Below are links to items mentioned above.
> 
> Zootopia DMV scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHKwnUa3txo&t=12s
> 
> Colorado form DR 2810: https://dmv.colorado.gov/sites/dmv/files/documents/DR2810_2023.pdf
> 
> FCC license site: https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsEntry/licManager/login.jsp
> 
> To get an official copy of your FCC license:
> 1) Log in
> 2) In the yellow box on the left click "Download Electronic Authorizations"
> 3) In the leftmost box click on your call sign
> 4) Between the two boxes click "Add"
> 5) Under the rightmost box click on "Select All"
> 6) Waaay over on the right side of the page, click "Download"
> 
> ...and hope the FCC site is working, since it only works about 50% of the time I go to it.
> 
> The PDF document will download into your downloads folder. Open your downloads folder and print out the PDF that has a filename that is a bunch of digits that means absolutely nothing to anyone. I suggest you sort your downloads folder by date to find it (find the most recent PDF in the folder).
> 
> Sign the PDF.
> 
> Again, thanks to everyone that replied to my questions!
> 
> Roger
> W3MIX
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