SB QST @ ARL $ARLB017
ARLB017 Vanity processing to resume

ZCZC AG17
QST de W1AW  
ARRL Bulletin 17  ARLB017
From ARRL Headquarters  
Newington CT  March 6, 2002
To all radio amateurs 

SB QST ARL ARLB017
ARLB017 Vanity processing to resume

The FCC now has all outstanding vanity applications initially filed
last October in hand and is ready to resume routine vanity call sign
processing, a spokesperson said. Until this week, a single missing
vanity application had been holding up a backlog of more than 2000
vanity applications.

''With the help of ARRL, the problem has been resolved, and we will
begin processing vanity applications this week,'' an FCC spokesperson
at the FCC's Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, office said today. ''So as not
to overload the system, we will run batches of applications daily
until amateur vanity processing is again up to date.''

At the core of the problem were some two weeks' worth of October
paper vanity applications sent from Gettysburg to Washington, DC,
last fall for anthrax decontamination that never made it back to
Gettysburg. FCC Wireless Telecommunications Bureau personnel at
Gettysburg were successful in using information gleaned from payment
receipts to contact most of the known paper filers via e-mail or
telephone to have them resubmit copies of their vanity applications.

As a result, a few vanity call signs have trickled out of Gettysburg
in recent weeks. On February 27 and 28, the FCC processed a total of
74 vanity applications received last October 23-26. Prior to last
week, no amateur vanity call signs had been granted since February
1, and until late January, no vanity call signs had been issued
since October 30.

Although most vanity applications are filed electronically, the
FCC's policy is to give equal processing weight to paper and
electronic applications.
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