SB QST @ ARL $ARLB027   
   ARLB027 FCC Issues Report and Order on Vanity and Club Station Call   
   Signs   
      
   ZCZC AG27   
   QST de W1AW     
   ARRL Bulletin 27  ARLB027   
   From ARRL Headquarters     
   Newington CT  November 11, 2010   
   To all radio amateurs    
      
   SB QST ARL ARLB027   
   ARLB027 FCC Issues Report and Order on Vanity and Club Station Call   
   Signs   
      
   In November 2009, the FCC issued a Notice of Proposed Rule Making   
   (NPRM) -- WT Docket No. 09-209 -- seeking to amend the Commission's   
   Amateur Radio Service rules to clarify and codify existing   
   procedures governing the vanity call sign system. The NPRM also   
   sought to revise certain rules applicable to club stations. The ARRL   
   submitted its comments to the FCC on March 26. On Monday, November   
   8, 2010, the FCC issued a Report and Order (R&O) with its decisions.   
   These new rules will take effect 60 days after publication in the   
   Federal Register.   
      
   In the R&O, the FCC amended and clarified its rules with respect to   
   Amateur Service vanity call signs "in order to promote processes   
   that are more equitable and administratively efficient."  The FCC   
   has amended its vanity call sign rules to clarify the date on which   
   the call sign associated with a license that is canceled due to the   
   licensee's death becomes available for reassignment and clarifies   
   the exceptions to the general rule that a call sign is unavailable   
   to the vanity call sign system for two years after the license   
   terminates. As for club stations, the FCC has placed limits on who   
   can file applications on behalf of a club, how many vanity call   
   signs a club can hold and how many clubs can have the same license   
   trustee.   
      
   According to the FCC, almost 80,000 licensees have replaced their   
   sequentially issued Amateur Radio call signs with a vanity call sign   
   since the program began in 1996. When the program began, the   
   Commission established what they called "the broad outlines" of the   
   vanity call sign system, concluding that call signs generally should   
   not be available for reassignment for two years following the death   
   of a licensee, or expiration or termination of the license for that   
   call sign. In doing so, the Commission made exceptions for former   
   holders of the call sign, close relatives of a deceased former   
   holder and club stations of which a deceased former holder was a   
   member.   
      
   The complete Report and Order (in PDF format) can be found on the   
   FCC web site at,   
   http://www.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2010/db1108/FCC-10-189A1.pdf   
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