SB QST @ ARL $ARLB016
ARLB016 New Amateur Radio Vanity Call Sign Fee Set at $21.40 

ZCZC AG16
QST de W1AW  
ARRL Bulletin 16  ARLB016
From ARRL Headquarters  
Newington CT  September 4, 2014
To all radio amateurs 

SB QST ARL ARLB016
ARLB016 New Amateur Radio Vanity Call Sign Fee Set at $21.40

The FCC has adjusted very slightly downward - to $21.40 - its
proposed Amateur Service vanity call sign regulatory fee for Fiscal
Year 2014. In a June Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM), the
Commission said it was planning to hike the current $16.10 vanity
fee to $21.60 for the 10-year license term. The FCC released a
Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (R&O) in
the proceeding on August 29, in which it recalculated the fee to
$21.40 for the 10-year license term. The $5.30 increase still
represents the largest vanity fee hike in many years.

The new $21.40 fee does not go into effect until 30 days after the
R&O is published in The Federal Register.

In the R&O, the FCC said it considered eliminating the regulatory
fee for Amateur Radio vanity call sign applications but decided not
to do so "at this time," because it lacks "adequate support to
determine whether the cost of recovery and burden on small entities
outweighs the collected revenue; or whether eliminating the fee
would adversely affect the licensing process." The Commission said
it would reevaluate this issue in the future to determine if it
should eliminate other fee categories.

The FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau sets the vanity call
sign regulatory fee using projections of new applications and
renewals, taking into consideration existing Commission licensee
databases, such as the Universal Licensing System (ULS) database.

The FCC reported there were 11,500 "payment units" in FY 2014. The
Commission said the vanity program generated an estimated $230,230
in FY 2013 revenue, and it estimated that it would collect nearly
$246,100 in FY 2014.

The vanity call sign regulatory fee is payable when applying for a
new vanity call sign or when renewing a vanity call sign, although
some older vanity call signs are not subject to the regulatory fee.
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