SB QST @ ARL $ARLB004   
   ARLB004 FCC "Paperless" Amateur Radio License Policy Goes into   
   Effect on February 17   
      
   ZCZC AG04   
   QST de W1AW     
   ARRL Bulletin 4  ARLB004   
   >From ARRL Headquarters     
   Newington CT  January 29, 2015   
   To all radio amateurs    
      
   SB QST ARL ARLB004   
   ARLB004 FCC "Paperless" Amateur Radio License Policy Goes into   
   Effect on February 17   
      
   Starting February 17, the FCC no longer will routinely issue paper   
   license documents to Amateur Radio applicants and licensees. The   
   Commission has maintained for some time now that the official   
   Amateur Radio license authorization is the electronic record that   
   exists in its Universal Licensing System (ULS), although the FCC has   
   continued to print and mail hard copy licenses. In mid-December the   
   FCC adopted final procedures to provide access to official   
   electronic authorizations, as it had proposed in WT Docket 14-161 as   
   part of its "process reform" initiatives.   
      
   Under the new procedures, licensees will access their current   
   official authorization ("Active" status only) via the ULS License   
   Manager. The FCC will continue to provide paper license documents to   
   all licensees who notify the Commission that they prefer to receive   
   one. Licensees also will be able to print out an official   
   authorization - as well as an unofficial "reference copy" - from the   
   ULS License Manager.   
      
   "We find this electronic process will improve efficiency by   
   simplifying access to official authorizations in ULS, shortening the   
   time period between grant of an application and access to the   
   official authorization, and reducing regulatory costs," the FCC   
   Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB) said. According to the WTB,   
   the new procedures will save at least $304,000 a year, including the   
   cost of staff resources.   
      
   In comments filed November 5, the ARRL had strongly recommended that   
   the FCC "give serious consideration to continuing a default   
   provision for sending an initial paper license document to new   
   licensees in the Amateur Radio Service, along with detailed, simple   
   instructions for how to make the elections set forth in the notice   
   relative to future modified or renewed licenses."   
      
   The FCC said that applicants or licensees who include a valid e-mail   
   address under "Applicant Information" in the ULS will receive an   
   official electronic authorization via e-mail. New license applicants   
   who do not provide a FCC Registration Number at the examination   
   point will receive a printed license as well as an FRN and a   
   temporary password to access the Commission Registration System   
   (CORES).   
      
   The ARRL and other Amateur Radio commenters also worried that unless   
   a license document is printed on distinctive paper stock, its   
   authenticity could be questioned in such situations as obtaining   
   vanity call sign license plates. To address this, the FCC said the   
   watermark "Official Copy" will be printed on each page of an   
   official authorization that a licensee prints out from the ULS. The   
   WTB recently stopped using distinctive paper stock to produce hard   
   copy licenses and has been printing these on "standard, white   
   recycled paper." The Bureau noted that the distinctive paper stock   
   it had used was six times more expensive than the plain recycled   
   paper it now uses.   
      
   The ULS License Manager now includes settings that allow licensees   
   to notify the WTB that they prefer to receive official   
   authorizations on paper. Once the final procedures go into effect   
   designating electronic access as the default, licensees can change   
   the ULS License Manager setting so that the Bureau will print and   
   mail a license document. Licensees also may contact FCC Support via   
   the web at,   
   http://esupport.fcc.gov/index.htm?job=contact_fcc_support , or via   
   telephone or mail to request paper licenses.   
      
   The FCC rejected as "outside the scope of this proceeding" an ARRL   
   argument that Section 97.23 of the Amateur Service rules be amended   
   to replace "licensee mailing address" with other alternatives,   
   including e-mail, for use in Commission correspondence. The rule,   
   which requires that any licensee mailing address be in an area where   
   the licensee has US Postal Service access, has precluded FCC   
   issuance of location-specific call signs in such areas as Navassa   
   Island (KP1) and some Pacific islands.   
   NNNN   
   /EX   
      
      
      
   )\/(ark   
      
   If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until   
   you hire an amateur.   
      
   --- FMail/Win32 1.60   
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