Amateur Radio vanity call sign processing will resume January 4

The FCC has announced that routine processing of Amateur Radio vanity call sign applications will resume January 4, 2006. The Wireless Telecommunication Bureau (WTB) suspended vanity processing in September as an indirect result of its action to extend regulatory and filing deadlines affecting licensees in parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas and Florida directly impacted by hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma. The Commission said licensees or applicants needing relief beyond the initial extension periods should follow the process for submitting waiver requests provided in §1.925 of the Commission's rules. "The Bureau will consider additional relief related to the hurricanes on a case-by-case basis," the FCC said December 19 in a public notice. During the extension periods, the WTB temporarily suspended certain automated licensing functions. These included dismissing applications that are returned and not amended on a timely basis, changing the status of a call sign from active to expired if a license is not renewed within the two-year grace period for Amateur Radio licensees, and issuing vanity call signs.

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