Hi Gang,
Just wanted to pop into your emails this weekend quickly to
remind all of you what this weekend of celebrating and partying is really all
about.. It’s about remembering those who have come before, now serving and
those who will come after in keeping our freedom safe from those who have other
wishes for us.
Our freedoms didn’t come cheap. It came with a very high cost,
and that’s what we want to remember this weekend. Please, take a minute of time
this weekend and just give a moment of silence for those who have given so
much. Yes, Memorial Day unofficially starts summer for us, with picnics,
parties and the like, but it’s also for remembering those who have made our
freedom the envy of the world.
Here’s some other news that I’m sure will bring a smile to
your face this weekend..
The FCC is going to Eliminate the Amateur Radio Vanity Call
Sign Regulatory Fee..
The following is reprinted from the ARRL news..
The FCC is eliminating the regulatory fee to apply for an
Amateur Radio vanity call sign. The change will not go into effect, however,
until required congressional notice has been given. This will take at least 90
days. As the Commission explained in a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Report
and Order, and Order (MD Docket 14-92 and others), released May 21, it’s a
matter of simple economics.
“The Commission spends more resources on processing the
regulatory fees and issuing refunds than the amount of the regulatory fee
payment,” the FCC said. “As our costs now exceed the regulatory fee, we are
eliminating this regulatory fee category.” The current vanity call sign
regulatory fee is $21.40, the highest in several years. The FCC reported there
were 11,500 “payment units” in FY 2014 and estimated that it would collect
nearly $246,100.
In its 2014 Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) regarding
the assessment and collection of regulatory fees for FY 2014, the FCC had
sought comment on eliminating several smaller regulatory fee categories, such
as those for vanity call signs and GMRS. It concluded in the subsequent Report
and Order (R&O) last summer, however, that it did not have “adequate
support to determine whether the cost of recovery and burden on small entities
outweighed the collected revenue or whether eliminating the fee would adversely
affect the licensing process.”
The FCC said it has since had an opportunity to obtain and
analyze support concerning the collection of the regulatory fees for Amateur
Vanity and GMRS, which the FCC said comprise, on average, more than 20,000
licenses that are newly obtained or renewed, every 10 and 5 years,
respectively.
“The Commission often receives multiple applications for the
same vanity call sign, but only one applicant can be issued that call sign,”
the FCC explained. “In such cases, the Commission issues refunds for all the
remaining applicants. In addition to staff and computer time to process
payments and issue refunds, there is an additional expense to issue checks for
the applicants who cannot be refunded electronically.”
The Commission said that after it provides the required
congressional notification, Amateur Radio vanity program applicants “will no
longer be financially burdened with such payments, and the Commission will no
longer incur these administrative costs that exceed the fee payments. The
revenue that the Commission would otherwise collect from these regulatory fee
categories will be proportionally assessed on other wireless fee categories.”
The FCC said it would not issue refunds to licensees who
paid the regulatory fee prior to its official elimination.
That’s if for now.. Please stay safe and be careful out
there..
73,
Scott..
eof..
