Vanity Processing Could Be on Hiatus Until Late December
NEWINGTON, CT, Oct 26, 2005--Thanks to Hurricane Wilma, the FCC likely will not be processing any vanity call sign applications until late December. The Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB) halted vanity processing on or about September 23 after realizing that filing and regulatory deadline extensions for licensees in certain states affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita could affect the vanity program. This week, the FCC announced an additional extension--until December 22--for licensees adversely affected by Hurricane Wilma. Because all three extensions apply to Amateur Radio's two-year "grace period," they could have an impact on vanity call sign processing. A WTB spokesperson said that the Wilma deadline extension probably would have the same effect on vanity processing as the previous two.
"It looks like it's going to be the same thing carried forward," Tracy Simmons told ARRL. He said amateur licensees can continue to file vanity call sign applications, but these will not be acted upon until the WTB resumes vanity processing. Then, all pending vanity call sign applications will be processed in the order they were received. Simmons indicated that the WTB would revise its Universal Licensing System (ULS) Web page "alert" telling applicants that vanity processing has been suspended "until further notice" to reflect the latest deadline extension.
In a public notice issued October 25, the WTB made clear that the Hurricane Wilma deadline extension only applies to "affected licensees and applicants in Florida and the Gulf of Mexico." For Part 97 licensees, the extension applies primarily to license modification and renewal application deadlines. According to this week's public notice, the WTB will require affected applicants to attach a "Hurricane Relief Certification" with filings that take advantage of the deadline extensions.
"WTB will rely on certifications by licensees and applicants at the time they submit their filings as proof that relief is due and the filings are timely," the FCC.
The FCC halted vanity processing to avoid such potential problems as re-issuing the call sign of an affected individual in one of the designated states whose license has expired but remains within the two-year grace period for renewal.
Under Part 97, Amateur Radio licensees have two years from the date of license expiration to renew their tickets without having to retest or risk losing their call signs to a vanity applicant. WTB has temporarily disabled the "auto-termination" feature of the ULS so that it will not automatically cancel licenses not been renewed by the end of the grace period.
On September 1, the FCC extended until October 31 all filing and regulatory deadlines falling between August 29 and October 30 for licensees in Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana affected by Hurricane Katrina. On September 24, it extended until November 21 all filing and regulatory deadlines falling between September 20 and November 20 for licensees in Louisiana and Texas affected by Hurricane Rita.
The FCC has not announced when vanity processing will resume, but at this point it appears unlikely that the date will be any sooner than December 23. It typically takes approximately three weeks for the FCC to process a vanity call sign application. In August, the FCC raised the vanity application fee to $21.90.
Page last modified: 04:36 PM, 26 Oct 2005 ET
Page author: awextra@arrl.org
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