| June, 2009 |  |
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President Obama Nominates New FCC Commissioner
On Wednesday, April 29, President Barack Obama
announced
his intention to nominate Mignon L. Clyburn of South Carolina as an FCC Commissioner. If her nomination is approved
by Congress, Clyburn will fill the seat of Democrat Jonathan Adelstein. Adelstein is
leaving the FCC to head up the Department of
Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service (RUS).
FCC Affirms Vanity Call Sign Rules
The FCC dismissed a petition filed by Richard Essen, N6CX (ex-AB3IQ), of Silver Spring, Maryland, regarding the issuance of a vanity call sign to Allan Corderman. In its decision, the FCC said that Corderman's application for his new call sign was valid and the call sign was "properly granted" by the FCC.
On December 22, 2006, Winfield Brantley of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, surrendered his call sign -- W3ZD --when the FCC approved his application for a new call sign. On December 10, 2008, Allan Corderman, WB1EFN, of New Orleans, Louisiana, applied for W3ZD, stating he was a close relative of a former holder of the call sign. Section 97.19(c)(3) of the FCC rules regarding vanity call signs state that while a surrendered call sign is not available to the vanity call sign system for two years, certain relatives of the deceased former holder or clubs (in certain circumstances) may apply for the call sign in the two year "grace period." Corderman stated in his application that he was the son of Roy C. Corderman, now deceased, and a former holder of W3ZD.
In January 2009, Richard Essen, N6CX (ex-AB3IQ), of Silver Spring, Maryland, petitioned the FCC, asking that the Commission reconsider Corderman's application for W3ZD, saying that the application should not have been granted because the exception in the vanity call sign system's rules apply only to close survivors of the most recent person to hold the call sign, and not to close relatives of any deceased prior holder.
The FCC disagreed with Essen's petition, saying that "[w]hen the Commission adopted Section 97.19(c)(3), it stated that it was granting priority to 'close relatives of deceased holders,' and did not say that the priority applied only to close relatives of certain deceased holders. The rule has always been interpreted to afford priority to close relatives of any deceased former holder."
FCC Looks to Raise Vanity Call Sign Fees for Second Consecutive Year
The FCC released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Order (NPRM) on May 14 seeking to raise fees for Amateur Radio vanity call signs. Currently, a vanity call sign costs $12.30 and is good for 10 years; the new fee, if the FCC plan goes through, will go up to $13.40 for 10 years, an increase of $1.10. 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 term. Instructions on how to comment on this NPRM are available on the FCC Web site.
Houston Representative Introduces Amateur Radio Bill in Congress
On Wednesday, April 29, Representative Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX) introduced HR 2160, the Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Enhancement Act of 2009 in the US House of Representatives. This bill, if passed, would “promote and encourage the valuable public service, disaster relief, and emergency communications provided on a volunteer basis by licensees of the Federal Communications Commission in the Amateur Radio Service, by undertaking a study of the uses of Amateur Radio for emergency and disaster relief communications, by identifying unnecessary or unreasonable impediments to the deployment of Amateur Radio emergency and disaster relief communications, and by making recommendations for relief of such unreasonable restrictions so as to expand the uses of Amateur Radio communications in Homeland Security planning and response.” The bill has been referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce.
| June, 2009 | |
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