Call Sign Choice

[X-Rated]

My kids didn't want their initials. They could have applied for those, but one was a gangsta and went for K1LLA and the other said WTF.

I guess I got them crappy initials.

[AE1PT]

I was browsing vanityhq and I saw that n2rj was available. So I took it. Pure luck.

Good thing I did, with the flood of no code Extras, 1x2s are now in short supply.

[n0iu]

I like my vanity call (duh!). I chose because I went to school where this guy used to coach --



But its kind of a funny story of how I actually got it...
(Well it wasn't all that funny at the time)

So its just after Thanksgiving 1996. My sequential call (that I EARNED by passing 5 written tests and 3 CW tests) in 1995 was AAØZS. If I had waited another day or so it might have been AAØZZ and I would have kept it!

But anyway...

The FCC had just started messing around with online application filing. This was long before the ULS system and was far from perfect. (Yeah, I know. You can't use "FCC" and "perfect" in the same sentence anyway!)

But I digress...

So I go to the WTB section of fcc.gov and fill out the request for the vanity callsign that I now hold. They also made it a point to remind vanity applicants that their request would not be considered until they filled out a Form 159 and mailed in the appropriate payment. This was also long before they took credit cards!

I never sent in the payment and promptly forgot about the application figuring it was a lost cause and that it would never be granted.

So on February 17, 1997, over 2½ months after filling out the application, I get my new license with my new callsign in the mail! Yipee! I beat the system! Someone in Gettysburg obviously fucked up and issued the callsign without the payment. It happens!

Well, my good luck ran out about a year later when I got another window envelope from Gettysburg. Someone finally figured out what had happened and they DEMANDED payment for the vanity callsign within 10 days or my license would be revoked since it was acquired under false pretenses! They could have said that if I did not pay they would take away the vanity callsign and give me my old callsign back or even give me the next sequential callsign, but NO! So they screw up and their solution is to threaten to revoke my license! But that is easy to understand since this guy was president at the time!


("Hey y'all. This is how much I'm gonna pay in taxes this year!")

Obviously I sent in the check and that was the last time I voted for a Democrat!

Just wanted to share.

[X-Rated]

Republicans always brag that the stuff that transpired after 1994 was their doing. Besides, the FCC is a Congressional Commission. But don't let facts get in your way.

[n0iu]

But don't let facts get in your way.

Why start now?

[W3WN]

< snip >
Besides, the FCC is a Congressional Commission. But don't let facts get in your way.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government, created by Congressional statute (see 47 U.S.C. § 151 and 47 U.S.C. § 154), and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the media, public safety and homeland security. The Commission is also in the process of modernizing itself.

The FCC took over wire communication regulation from the Interstate Commerce Commission. The FCC's mandated jurisdiction covers the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. possessions. The FCC also provides varied degrees of cooperation, oversight, and leadership for similar communications bodies in other countries of North America. The FCC is funded entirely by regulatory fees. It has an estimated fiscal-2011 budget of US $335.8 million and a proposed fiscal-2012 budget of $354.2 million. It has 1,898 federal employees.

-- The Facts according to Wikipedia. Just to be precise.

[X-Rated]

You must conclude that they are a rogue organization or they report to someone regardless of who hired them.

[AB3MV]

Well, I am amazed that five people have picked choice number one. While A-prefix 2x2 call signs appear to be shed faster than K-prefix 2x3 call signs, they may soon join 1x2s and 2x1s as coveted call signs now that 4-Land has exhausted the Group A 2x2 call sign pool. Extra class licensees who request a new sequential call sign in 4-Land now receive Group B K-prefix 2x2 call signs.

[X-Rated]

I guess it's better than the Group W bench.

[W3WN]

I guess it's better than the Group W bench.

Oh? I'll have to ask W9UK about that, he used to work for Group W / Westinghouse Broadcasting.