| April, 2007 |  |
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FCC turns down petition to reconsider vanity application dismissal
The FCC has rejected the petition of Ronald W. Moody, K9RWM, of
Colfax, Wisconsin, to reconsider its dismissal of his 2006 vanity call
sign application. Last April, Moody sought to obtain K9RM. The
Commission denied his application, however, because the Universal
Licensing System (ULS)
showed the call sign as unavailable because the license had expired
less than two years earlier. "A call sign is not available for
reassignment until two years after the license expires or the
licensee's death, whichever is sooner," Scot Stone, deputy chief of the
FCC Wireless Telecommunication Bureau's Mobility Division, explained in
a February 22 letter.
Last June, the WTB got word that the previous holder of K9RM had died
in December 2002, and it entered that information into the ULS.
"Because more that two years had passed since the licensee's death,
amateur station call sign K9RM became available to the vanity call sign
system on June 9, 2006," Stone told Moody. "At the time your
application was processed, the ULS database showed that the call sign
K9RM was not assignable. Consequently, we conclude that your
application was properly dismissed." The WTB granted K9RM to an Indiana
licensee last June 24.
FCC says no commercial credit for prior military, Amateur Radio, experience
The FCC has told a California radio amateur that it will not waive a
commercial license application rule on the basis of his Amateur Radio
Morse code qualifications. Last April, Robert E. Griffin, K6YR, of San
Luis Obispo, applied for an FCC First Class Radiotelegraph Operator's
Certificate -- known as a T1 license -- requesting a waiver of
§13.201(b)(1)(iv). That rule says T1 applicants must have a year's
experience "sending and receiving public correspondence by
radiotelegraph at a public coast station, a ship station, or both."
Griffin, who's ARRL Santa Barbara Section Manager and transmits the
West Coast Qualifying Run on approximately 3.590 MHz, argued that the
FCC should waive the rule because it's nearly impossible in an era of
the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) to acquire the
requisite experience and that the rule presented "an unreasonable
hardship and a burdensome requirement." He sought credit on the basis
of his military and Amateur Radio radiotelegraph experience, including
participation in the Military Affiliate Radio System, in lieu of
experience at a public coast station or ship station. In a
letter
February 22, the FCC said Griffin failed to demonstrate that the rule in question was "inequitable or
burdensome" insofar as all
T1 applicants face the same requirement, and it denied Griffin's
request. "A request for relief from the existing requirement of
§13.201(b)(1)(iv) would better be addressed in a rule making
proceeding, rather than through the waiver process," the FCC
allowed.
FCC Denies Petition to Require Exam Questions in Languages Other than English
The FCC has turned down a petition
seeking a rule requiring question pools be prepared for each
examination element in languages other than English. Filing on behalf
of the Puerto Rico Amateur Radio League (PRARL),
Victor Madera, KP4PQ, sought the change to §97.523 of the rules last
year. Madera is the PRARL's secretary and ARRL Puerto Rico Section
Manager. The organization cited a need to administer consistent ham
radio license exams in Spanish. In a
letter
today, the FCC suggested that the PRARL would be better off to approach
the National Conference of Volunteer Examiner Coordinators (NCVEC)
Question Pool Committee (QPC) about establishing language criteria.
Washington Bill Seeks Excise Tax Exemption for Ham Radio Repeaters
ARRL Western Washington Section Manager
Ed Bruette, N7NVP, is seeking support from his section's members for a
bill that would exempt Amateur Radio repeater owners from having to pay
a substantial excise tax based on the commercial value of the
repeater's site. Bruette says the problem arose from a new
interpretation of the Washington tax code by the state's Department of
Revenue that includes repeater site leaseholds.
| April, 2007 | |
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