SB QST @ ARL $ARLB007
ARLB007 Vanity calls soon
 
ZCZC AG73
QST de W1AW  
ARRL Bulletin 7  ARLB007
>From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT  January 25, 1995
To all radio amateurs 
 
SB QST ARL ARLB007
ARLB007 Vanity calls soon
 
The FCC has announced its intention to implement a vanity call sign
program, and also to resume the issuance of club and military
recreation station licenses.  In a January 24 news release, the
Commission released a general outline of the new program.
 
Amateurs will be eligible to apply for a call sign of their choice
in four ''gates.''  The first group eligible to apply will be previous
holders of a call sign or the close relative of a previous holder of
an amateur call sign who is deceased.  The second group will be
Amateur Extra Class licensees, then Advanced, then all others.  The
FCC will announce the opening of each ''gate'' by public notice.
 
The FCC said that the first gate will open as soon as a new
application form, FCC Form 610-V, is available and the Commission's
licensing facility is prepared to begin processing the applications
--  no sooner than April, according to FCC staff.  Applications for
club station licenses will be accepted as soon as the FCC's Report
and Order on this matter is released.  Club station call signs will
be issued systematically, unless under the fourth ''gate'' the trustee
of an existing club station applies for the call sign of a deceased
member as a vanity call sign for the club.
 
The fee for the use of vanity call signs will be 7 dollar(s) per year, or 70
for dollar(s) a ten-year license term, according to Wireless Telecommunication
Bureau staff.  However, on January 12, 1995, in a notice of proposed
rule making, the FCC proposed a fee of 3 dollar(s) per year, for fiscal year
1995 (which began October 1, 1994).
 
Amateurs will be able to list up to 25 call sign choices, from any
call area, FCC staff said.  It is expected that it will be several
weeks before the new form 610-V is approved.
 
More information was in July 1994 QST, page 84; June QST, page 81;
and February QST, page 84.  (PR Docket 93-305).
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