SB QST @ ARL $ARLB053
ARLB053 VEC applications pile up as ULS gets up to speed

ZCZC AG53
QST de W1AW  
ARRL Bulletin 53  ARLB053
From ARRL Headquarters  
Newington CT  August 20, 1999
To all radio amateurs 

SB QST ARL ARLB053
ARLB053 VEC applications pile up as ULS gets up to speed

The transition to the new Universal Licensing System has created a
backlog of new amateur applications at Volunteer Examiner
Coordinators. As of today, the FCC has processed only the few
Amateur Radio applications that VECs have been permitted to file.
The ULS Task Force says, however, that filing of amateur
applications by individuals via the ULS has gone well, and that the
FCC will attack the VEC application logjam very soon.

While the FCC has begun accepting some data from VECs, the quantity
they're allowed to submit has been very low--10-20 applications per
VEC were accepted the first three days after ULS went into effect
for hams. Not all of the VECs are set up to file under the new
system.

As a result, applicants for new amateur licenses will have to wait a
few more days--perhaps several days--longer before their new call
signs are issued by the FCC. In addition, no vanity call sign
applications were processed during the ULS phase-in period last
week.

Applications filed via the ULS during this inaugural week for the
Amateur Service, however, have been processed or accepted for
processing, although the ULS server has been down more than once.

Amateurs wanting to check on the status of applications filed via
the ULS can do so via the ULS home page, http://www.fcc.gov/wtb/uls.
Clicking on ''Application Search'' or ''License Search'' and
plugging in the applicable call sign should yield the desired
information.

Various Web call sign servers might not display the latest FCC
licensee data, however, because updated data have not been
available. Daily ZIP file postings for call sign servers should
become ''routine'' by next week, according to the ULS Task Force.

Once the ULS is working as planned, automated processing of
electronically filed applications is supposed to occur nightly each
business day. Vanity applications also will be processed each night,
although the built-in lag of at least 10 days between application
and grant will remain.

Although it's not been announced formally, the new ULS has begun
accepting on-line fee payments via credit card for vanity call sign
applications.

For now, the ULS does not accept any club station applications, and
amateurs registering for the ULS should register only their personal
call signs. Trustees and custodians of club, military recreation,
and RACES licenses should continue to use the old Form 610B to file
applications for those stations and should not use their personal
Social Security Number as the TIN for these licenses. Club station
trustees and applicants should contact ULS Technical Support at
202-414-1250 to obtain an Assigned Taxpayer ID Number for each club
license and provide it on the Form 610B.

On-line registration is available on the ULS home page,
http://www/fcc.gov/wtb/uls/. Applications filed on-line by anyone
not registered in the ULS will be dismissed. Applications filed
through a VEC automatically register the applicant in ULS, as do
paper applications mailed to FCC that include the applicant's Social
Security Number. Manually-filed FCC Form 606s go to FCC, Information
Technology Division, ATTN: Kathy McLucas, 1270 Fairfield Rd,
Gettysburg, PA 17325-7245.

Complete registration and connection instructions are on the FCC's
ULS home page (http://www.fcc.gov/wtb/uls). Amateurs having ULS
problems or questions should contact the FCC's ULS Technical Support
staff at 202-414-1250.
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/EX