SB QST @ ARL $ARLB019   
   ARLB019 Vanity Call Sign Fee to Go Up in September   
      
   ZCZC AG19   
   QST de W1AW     
   ARRL Bulletin 19  ARLB019   
   From ARRL Headquarters     
   Newington CT  August 11, 2011   
   To all radio amateurs    
      
   SB QST ARL ARLB019   
   ARLB019 Vanity Call Sign Fee to Go Up in September   
      
   On August 10, the FCC announced via a Final Rule in the Federal   
   Register that the cost of an Amateur Radio vanity call sign will   
   increase 90 cents, from $13.30 to $14.20.  The new fees take   
   effect 30 days after publication, making September 9, 2011, the   
   first day the new fee is in effect.  Earlier this year, the FCC   
   released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Order (NPRM), seeking   
   to raise the fee for Amateur Radio vanity call signs.   
      
   "The Commission tries to keep the regulatory fee for Vanity call   
   signs as minimal as possible," explained the FCC in its Final Rule.   
   "Between FY 2007 and FY 2010, the regulatory fee for Vanity call   
   signs increased from $1.17 per year to $1.33 per year, an increase   
   of $0.16 per year or $1.60 over a ten-year license period.  We do   
   not believe this increase is inequitable, and the Commission will   
   continue its efforts to keep this fee as minimal as possible.  The   
   fees that are collected from Vanity call signs are used to offset   
   the cost of monitoring and researching new call sign requests to   
   prevent the issuance of duplicate call signs."   
      
   The vanity call sign fee has fluctuated over the 14 years of the   
   current program -- from a low of $11.70 in 2007 to a high of $70 as   
   first proposed in the FCC's 1994 Report and Order.  In FY 2011, the   
   FCC expects to grant 14,600 vanity call signs, bringing in $207,320   
   from the vanity call sign program, and looks to recover a total of   
   $336,599,048 in fees from all the Services that it regulates.   
      
   The vanity call sign regulatory fee is payable not only when   
   applying for a new vanity call sign, but also upon renewing a vanity   
   call sign for a new term.  The first vanity call sign licenses   
   issued under the current Amateur Radio vanity call sign program that   
   began in 1996 came up for renewal five years ago.  The FCC is   
   authorized by the Communications Act of 1934, As Amended, to collect   
   vanity call sign fees to recover the costs associated with that   
   program.   
   NNNN    
   /EX   
      
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