Tag: FCC

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FCC Application Fees Unlikely to Go into Effect Until 2022

The schedule of FCC amateur radio application fees likely will not go into effect before 2022. FCC staff confirmed during a recent virtual meeting with Volunteer Examiner Coordinators (VECs) that the agency is still working on the necessary changes to the Universal Licensing System (ULS) software and other processes and procedures that must be in place before it starts collecting fees from amateur applicants. Earlier this year, the FCC said it would not start collecting fees from amateur applicants before this Summer. The new estimate is that the fees won’t go into effect until early next year.

Once it’s effective, the $35 application fee will apply to new, modification (upgrade and sequential call sign change), renewal, and vanity call sign applications. All fees will be per application.

Administrative update applications, such as those to change a licensee’s name, mailing, or email address, will be exempt from fees. ARRL VEC manager Maria Somma, AB1FM, said Volunteer Examiner (VE) teams will not face the burden of collecting the $35 fee.

“Once the FCC application fee takes effect, new and upgrade applicants will pay the exam session fee to the VE team as usual, but they’ll pay the $35 application fee directly to the FCC using the FCC Pay Fees system,” she explained. When the FCC receives the examination information from the VEC, it will email a link with payment instructions to each successful candidate who then will have 10 days from the date of the email to pay.

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Amateurs’ Email Addresses Will Continue to Be Kept Private, FCC Says

Starting on June 29, all applications filed with the FCC must include an email address for FCC correspondence. After receipt of the initial announcement that all future applications would require an email address, ARRL was concerned for the privacy of its members and requested that amateurs’ email addresses not be made public.

This week, the FCC agreed, stating in an email to ARRL counsel that it will continue to “mask” amateurs’ email addresses from public view in the Universal Licensing System (ULS). The FCC will use the email address supplied by amateurs to correspond with applicants, including to send a link to the official electronic copy of the license when an application is granted.

The FCC is transitioning to fully electronic correspondence and no longer mails hard-copy licenses. Amateurs are able to view, download, and print their official license grant, using the ULS.

When a license is first granted, each applicant will receive an email with a direct link to the license. Although the link expires in 30 days, the license itself will remain available in the ULS and may be downloaded at any time by signing into the licensee’s account using their FCC Registration Number (FRN) and password.

On or after June 29, a valid email address must be provided with each application, and must be kept current by filing a modification application as necessary. Under the amended Section 97.23, “The email address must be an address where the grantee can receive electronic correspondence. Revocation of the station license or suspension of the operator license may result when correspondence from the FCC is returned as undeliverable because the grantee failed to provide the correct email address.”

Applicants lacking an email address should consider using the email address of a friend or family member on their FCC applications.

Reminder: Due to changes the FCC has made to its licensing system, starting today, Thursday, May 20, all amateur exam applicants must provide their FRN to the Volunteer Examiners (VEs) before taking an amateur exam. Prospective new FCC licensees will be required to obtain an FRN before the examination and provide that number to the VEs on the Form 605 license application. An FCC instructional video provides step-by-step instructions on how to obtain an FRN through the FCC’s Commission Registration System (CORES) can be found at, https://www.fcc.gov/rofrn .

The FRN is used afterward by the applicant to download the official license document from the FCC’s Universal Licensing System (ULS), to upgrade a license, apply for a vanity call sign, and to submit administrative updates (such as address and email changes) and renewal applications.

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FCC Invites Comments on Expanding the Number of Volunteer Examiner Coordinators

In a January 5 Public Notice, the FCC requested comments on whether the current 14 Volunteer Examiner Coordinators (VECs) are sufficient to facilitate the efforts of their accredited Volunteer Examiners

(VEs) in administering amateur radio examinations. The ARRL VEC is the largest of the 14 VECs in the US. Comments are due by February 5, and reply comments are due by February 19. After Congress authorized it to do so, the FCC adopted rules in 1983 to allow volunteers to prepare and administer amateur radio examinations, and it established the system of VECs and VEs.

The Public Notice can be found online in PDF format at, https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-21-9A1.pdf .

“VECs introduced consistency into the volunteer examiner program by centralizing accreditation of volunteer examiners, coordinating the dates and times for scheduling examinations, and managing the various administrative tasks arising from examinations,” the FCC said. Authorized VECs may operate in any of the 13 VEC regions but must service at least one region. The FCC pointed out that some VECs now offer remote examinations.

“The Commission has long maintained 14 VECs and now seeks to consider whether they continue to serve the evolving needs of the amateur community, or whether there are unmet needs that warrant considering expanding the number of VECs.”

The FCC Public Notice provided questions for framing comments:

* Are the existing 14 VECs sufficient to coordinate the efforts of Volunteer Examiners in preparing and administering examinations for amateur radio operator licenses, or are additional VECs needed?

* What needs are currently being met, and which needs, if any, are not?

* If the FCC were to allow additional VECs, how many more would be needed to satisfy existing Amateur Radio Service license examination needs? (The FCC indicated that it will likely cap the number of additional VECs at five.)

* Given that VECs use a collaborative process to create examination question pools and volunteer examination administration protocols, would additional VECs enhance or hinder this process?

* How would increasing the number of VECs address the unmet needs, if any, of the amateur radio community, and what obstacles or complications could result from increasing the number of VECs?

Interested parties may file short comments on WT Docket No. 21-2 via the FCC’s Electronic Comment Filing Service (Express) at, https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/filings/express .

Visit the FCC’s “How to Comment on FCC Proceedings” page for information on filing extended comments at, https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/how-comment .

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FCC Reduces Proposed Amateur Radio Application Fee to $35

In a Report and Order (R&O), released on December 29, the FCC scaled back to $35 the fee for a new license application, a special temporary authority (STA) request, a rule waiver request, a license renewal application, and a vanity call sign application.

The effective date of the fee schedule has not been established, but it will be announced at least 30 days in advance. The FCC has directed the Office of Managing Director, in consultation with relevant offices and bureaus, to draft a notice for publication in the Federal Register announcing when rule change(s) will become effective, “once the relevant databases, guides, and internal procedures have been updated.”

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FCC to Require Email Addresses on Applications

Amateur radio licensees and candidates will have to provide the FCC with an email address on applications, effective sometime in mid-2021. If no email address is included, the FCC may dismiss the application as defective.

The FCC is fully transitioning to electronic correspondence and will no longer print or provide wireless licensees with hard-copy authorizations or registrations by mail.

A Report and Order (R&O) on “Completing the Transition to Electronic Filing, Licenses and Authorizations, and Correspondence in the Wireless Radio Services” in WT Docket 19-212 was adopted on September 16. The new rules will go into effect 6 months after publication in the Federal Register, which hasn’t happened yet, but the FCC is already strongly encouraging applicants to provide an email address. When an email address is provided, licensees will receive an official electronic copy of their licenses when the application is granted.

Under Section 97.21 of the new rules, a person holding a valid amateur station license “must apply to the FCC for a modification of the license grant as necessary to show the correct mailing and email address, licensee name, club name, license trustee name, or license custodian name.” For a club or military recreation station license, the application must be presented in document form to a club station call sign administrator who must submit the information to the FCC in an electronic batch file.

Under new Section 97.23, each license will have to show the grantee’s correct name, mailing address, and email address. “The email address must be an address where the grantee can receive electronic correspondence,” the amended rule will state. “Revocation of the station license or suspension of the operator license may result when correspondence from the FCC is returned as undeliverable because the grantee failed to provide the correct email address.”

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