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| The award-winning monthly publication of The Baltimore Radio Amateur Television Society P.O.Box 5915 Baltimore, MD 21282-5915 |
September, 2009
Senate Confirms Clyburn and Baker as FCC Commissioners
The U.S. Senate has confirmed President Obama's nominations of Democrat Mignon Clyburn, and
Republican Meredith Attwell Baker, to the remaining two seats on the Federal Communications
Commission. Clyburn is the daughter of House majority whip James Clyburn, and the former
publisher and editor of the Charleston weekly newspaper, the Coastal Times. She currently serves
on the South Carolina Public Service Commission. Baker, the daughter of former Senate Majority
Leader Howard Baker, is a former Commerce Department official who oversaw the $40 coupon
program for converter boxes during the digital television transition. Both were approved on Friday,
July 24th (FCC)
FCC: Vanity Call Sign Fees to Increase September 10
On August 11, the FCC announced that the cost of an Amateur Radio vanity call sign will increase $1.10, from $12.30
to $13.40. Now that notice of the increase has been published in the
Federal Register,
the increase will take effect in 30 days, September 10, 2009. 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. 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 10 year term. The notice in the August 11, 2009 Federal Register, entitled “Assessment and
Collection of Regulatory Fees for Fiscal Year 2009,” includes regulatory fees; these fees are expected to recover a
total of $341,875,000 during FY2009, encompassing all the Services the FCC regulates. For more information, see the
recent ARRLWeb article, "FCC Looks to Raise Vanity Call Sign Fees for
Second Consecutive Year."
MFJ Acquires Cushcraft
On August 7, MFJ Enterprises announced they had purchased
the Cushcraft Amateur Radio antennas product line from Missouri-based
Laird Technologies effective July 31. According to MFJ,
Cushcraft -- makers of HF/VHF/UHF vertical, beam and Yagi antennas for the Amateur Radio community -- will continue
to be manufactured in Manchester, New Hampshire. "We are excited to have the Cushcraft Amateur Radio Antennas product
line alongside our other five companies," said Martin F. Jue, President and founder of MFJ Enterprises, Inc.
"This product line increases our ability to offer our customers a wide range of antenna options at different prices.
Customers will be able to choose from Cushcraft Amateur Radio antennas, Hy-gain and MFJ antennas through one source."
MFJ purchased Hy-gain in 2000 the company also owns Ameritron, Mirage and Vectronics. Jue said that the Cushcraft line
will bring more than 50 new products to MFJ's Amateur Radio product line. "We will add more new products to this
antenna line and will continue the Cushcraft Amateur Radio antennas name long into the future. Cushcraft Amateur
Radio antenna product customers will appreciate the continued and expected top-quality manufacturing of this product
in New Hampshire and the MFJ commitment to superb after-the-sale service and tech support in Mississippi," said Jue.
The 120 page 2010 MFJ catalog will include the entire Cushcraft Amateur Radio antennas product line. MFJ has set up a
special customer support line -- 662-323-5803 -- to handle Cushcraft antenna product technical support, parts requests
and customer services.
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| September, 2009 |  |
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