No End in Sight to Vanity Call Sign Processing Hiatus
NEWINGTON, CT, Feb 7, 2007 -- Tomorrow will mark five weeks since the FCC granted a new Amateur Radio vanity call sign application, although it continues to act on vanity renewals. The Commission's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB) issued the last new vanity call signs January 4 for applications received December 15, but it didn't announce the processing hold until January 11 -- a week after the fact. The Commission has halted new vanity call sign processing while it's modifying the Universal Licensing System (ULS) software that handles vanity applications. When processing might resume remains up in the air.
"At this point, I don't have a time frame," a WTB staff member told ARRL this week. Information FCC staffers provided on background nearly two weeks ago briefly gave rise to optimism that the processing hold could end by January 29 or sooner, but that didn't happen. The Commission is likely to receive an avalanche of new vanity call sign applications after February 23, when elimination of the Morse code examination requirement is expected to spur a massive influx of license upgrades.
The current suspension affects new vanity call sign applications submitted on December 18 or later. It resulted from a new Amateur Radio Service rule that went into effect December 15 to discourage the practice of filing multiple vanity applications on the same day to better the applicant's chances of getting a particular call sign.
A brief FCC ULS Web page announcement -- not updated since it was first posted -- says that while the Commission is still accepting vanity call sign applications, it won't process them "until software changes in accordance with the recent rule making have been fully implemented."
At issue is a new rule included in the so-called "omnibus" Amateur Radio Report and Order (R&O) in WT Docket 04-140. As revised, §97.19(a)(1) now stipulates: "In the event that the Commission receives more than one application requesting a vanity call sign from an applicant on the same receipt day, the Commission will process only the first such application entered into the Universal Licensing System." The FCC will dismiss any subsequent vanity call sign applications from the same applicant on the same receipt date.
Although the WTB was aware of the pending rule change well in advance of its implementation, it nonetheless seems to have been caught off guard. The Commission halted new vanity call sign processing only after an unwitting applicant submitted 30 applications for the same call sign on the same receipt day three days after the new rule became effective.
Since new vanity call sign processing ceased last month, the FCC has twice scheduled ULS maintenance shutdowns -- both on weekends. The WTB has not indicated, however, if those outages were a part of the process of getting the vanity system back on track.
Once processing of new vanity applications does restart, the FCC plans to deal with all applications now in the queue in the order received. A sizeable application backlog could dictate how rapidly that happens. Typically, it takes 18 days from the time the FCC receives a vanity application until the call sign is issued -- or the application is denied. The current vanity call sign fee, payable for new applications as well as renewals, is $20.80 for the 10-year license term.
Page last modified: 12:19 PM, 07 Feb 2007 ET
Page author: awextra@arrl.org
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