On May 18, the FCC denied a Petition for Reconsideration filed by Glen Zook, K9STH, that asked for changes in Part 97 regarding how often amateurs must identify themselves on the air. This action follows the Commission’s denial of Zook’s April 2009 Petition for Rulemaking requesting that the Commission amend Section 97.119(a) to change how often amateur stations must identify themselves, specifically “to require that an amateur station transmit its call sign during the first transmission of any communication or series of transmissions, and to allow an amateur station to not transmit its call sign at the end of a communication when the communication or series of transmissions lasts less than three minutes.”

In denying Zook’s 2009 Petition, the FCC noted that in May 2006, Zook had filed another Petition requesting that the Commission amend Section 97.119(a) to require that call signs be transmitted at the beginning of each transmission or series of transmissions: “In response, the Commission received approximately one hundred comments, generally opposing the petition. In 2007, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau's Mobility Division dismissed this petition, concluding that the requested rule changes were not necessary and were not supported by the Amateur Radio community, and noting that the commenters believed that the current station identification rule properly balances the burden of requiring the station to transmit its call sign with the convenience of those receiving the transmissions to determine the identity of the station making the transmissions.”

The FCC said that Zook’s 2009 request “does not assert or demonstrate that circumstances have changed since 2007 with respect to the adequacy of the current station identification rule,” and the FCC concluded that it does not present grounds for the Commission to propose amending Section 97.119(a): “Your current proposal, like your previous petition, does not demonstrate that revising the station identification requirement as requested would address the concern that many Amateur Radio operators do not identify their station timely or at all, or that the problem of station operators not complying with the present rule cannot be addressed by enforcement of the present rule rather than a rule change.”

After the FCC denied Zook’s Petition, he filed a Petition for Reconsideration two days later. The Commission noted in its May 2010 action that it had dismissed Zook’s 2009 Petition “on the grounds that it did not present evidence meriting a rule change, because it did not assert or demonstrate that circumstances had changed since the Division dismissed a previous petition that you filed proposing to amend Section 97.119(a) to incorporate certain portions of the Commission’s former station identification rule,” but that in his Petition for Reconsideration, Zook “disagree[d] that circumstances have not changed since 2007, arguing that your 2009 petition proposed narrower changes than your 2006 petition, and again expressing the concern that many amateur operators do not properly identify their communications.”

The FCC Denied Zook’s Petition for Reconsideration, concluding that it, “like your previous petitions, does not demonstrate that the current station identification rule is inadequate or that revising the station identification requirement as requested would address the concern that many amateur radio operators do not identify their station timely or at all. We also note that, in response to your 2006 petition, commenters believed that the current station identification rule properly balances the burden of requiring the station to transmit its call sign with the convenience of those receiving the transmissions to determine the identity of the station making the transmissions.”