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Thread: FCC Proposes to Reinstate Amateur Radio Service Fees

  1. #11
    Island Canuck VE7DCW's Avatar
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    The Canadian government just charges us 60 dollars when we obtain the amateur operator certificate .......we can then choose and get a callsign for life...... if we want an extra callsign just another 60 bucks for life..... no problem easy peasy one time fee and just carry on....it really does make it simple and less like a cash grab against the public....
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  2. #12
    Master Navigator K4PIH's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by KG4CGC View Post
    Does he enter the Denny's wearing his yellow vest? Probably has an amateur radio badge with his callsign and some fake title.
    Probably has REACT hat and more than 3 radios and scanners n his utility belt!

    If $50 is too much for some amateurs then they should quit.

    Heck I can buy 3 bofengs for $50!
    Last edited by K4PIH; 08-31-2020 at 10:37 AM. Reason: More info
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  3. #13
    Orca Whisperer W3WN's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by K4PIH View Post
    Probably has REACT hat and more than 3 radios and scanners n his utility belt!

    If $50 is too much for some amateurs then they should quit.

    Heck I can buy 3 bofengs for $50!
    Again, it's not the fee that's the issue.

    It's the pretense that it currently costs the FCC $50 to process an Amateur Radio license. AND the pretense that it currently costs the FCC an additional $50 to print and mail a paper license.

    In other words, under the guise of covering reasonable fees -- and I have no problem with reasonable fees -- the bureaucrats and politicians behind this are insulting us by thinking that we can't do simple math.

    I doubt that the actual cost to the FCC to process an application or renewal comes to more than $5. Consider that most of the work is already done by the VEC's who actually submit the electronic information; or the Amateur who processes his renewal via the ULS him/herself. How long does it take the FCC computer to read a file and update a record?

    And I doubt that the actual cost to the FCC to process a paper license is more than $10. Again, most of the work is done by others. All someone from the FCC has to do is pick up the sheet of paper from the laser printer, fold it, and put it in an envelope. (And even THAT can be automated these days; Pitney-Bowes for one has a machine that does all that AND affixes postage as well). Then the envelopes have to be picked up and put in the mail. And that's it.

    If the FCC's costs to do all that really come to $50 & $50, then they have some real serious problems to address.

    I don't object to a fee. I do object to being ripped off.
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  4. #14
    "Island Bartender" KG4CGC's Avatar
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  5. #15
    Orca Whisperer W3WN's Avatar
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    I found the reason for the “nominal” fees proposed.

    They’re based on the current GMRS fees. See NPRM Paragraph 25. The reasoning appears to be, if it’s good enough for one “personal” radio service, it’s good enough for all. Lazy bureaucratic thinking. Or what passes for thinking.

    i never realized that GMRS licensees were being ripped off as well.

    It’s definitely a money grab.
    “Nobody is going to feel sorry for us. 90% of the people don’t care, the other 10% are glad it happened.” — Clint Hurdle, 2019

    BAN THE DH!

    Fudd's First Law of Opposition: If you push something hard enough, it WILL fall down.
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  6. #16
    Master Navigator K4PIH's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by W3WN View Post
    Again, it's not the fee that's the issue.

    It's the pretense that it currently costs the FCC $50 to process an Amateur Radio license. AND the pretense that it currently costs the FCC an additional $50 to print and mail a paper license.

    In other words, under the guise of covering reasonable fees -- and I have no problem with reasonable fees -- the bureaucrats and politicians behind this are insulting us by thinking that we can't do simple math.

    I doubt that the actual cost to the FCC to process an application or renewal comes to more than $5. Consider that most of the work is already done by the VEC's who actually submit the electronic information; or the Amateur who processes his renewal via the ULS him/herself. How long does it take the FCC computer to read a file and update a record?

    And I doubt that the actual cost to the FCC to process a paper license is more than $10. Again, most of the work is done by others. All someone from the FCC has to do is pick up the sheet of paper from the laser printer, fold it, and put it in an envelope. (And even THAT can be automated these days; Pitney-Bowes for one has a machine that does all that AND affixes postage as well). Then the envelopes have to be picked up and put in the mail. And that's it.

    If the FCC's costs to do all that really come to $50 & $50, then they have some real serious problems to address.

    I don't object to a fee. I do object to being ripped off.
    Forgot to add the cost of several high level GS workers salaries, loading paper and ink in the printer, turning on the computer, yada yada. The government overhead for operations is the envy of many a TV preacher.
    "Don't put it on the plate if you can't eat it!"

  7. #17
    Administrator N8YX's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by K4PIH View Post
    Forgot to add the cost of several high level GS workers salaries, loading paper and ink in the printer, turning on the computer, yada yada. The government overhead for operations is the envy of many a TV preacher.
    This right here is the crux of the matter. Gubmint protects gubmint, period.
    "Everyone wants to be an AM Gangsta until it's time to start doing AM Gangsta shit."

  8. #18
    Orca Whisperer W3WN's Avatar
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    Well, knowing how the FCC treats it's peons, er, licensed citizens, on communications matters... I'm very much afraid that this is a lost cause; the issue has already been decided, but they have to go through the motions of appearing to solicit our comments. And then they will rule on the NPRM and officially affirm the decision already made.

    But I'm going to try anyway. And I strongly suggest that everyone affected do so as well... we have nothing to lose but the contents of our wallets.

    Consider the math, though. Today, there are over 826,000 licensed Amateur Radio Operators in the US. So for the sake of argument, let's presume an average of 10% of those will be eligible to renew every year (82,600), and let's say of those, an average of 50,000 actually will. (The others will forget, will have lost interest, will no longer be eligible, or will have QSY'd to another plane of existence as they achieve room temperature) . So, 50,000 renewals x $50 each is... $2.5 Million dollars. This is the proverbial drop in the bucket for the FCC and most government agencies. It may prove to be more trouble to collect than it's worth to them.

    Oh, wait, sorry. I was being reasonable again. To a government bureaucrat, that last point is irrelevant -- they have to make sure you know they have your "best interests" (quit snickering) at heart, so yeah, they will try to collect, even when it costs them 3x as much.
    “Nobody is going to feel sorry for us. 90% of the people don’t care, the other 10% are glad it happened.” — Clint Hurdle, 2019

    BAN THE DH!

    Fudd's First Law of Opposition: If you push something hard enough, it WILL fall down.
    Teslacle's Deviant to Fudd's Law: It goes in, it must go out.

    Just remember: Abraham Lincoln didn't die in vain. He died in Washington, DC

    Cutch 2K!!

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  9. #19
    'Grumpy old bastid' kb2vxa's Avatar
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    "the issue has already been decided, but they have to go through the motions"
    Ah, we're back in the city magistrate's court again, a familiar scenario. "He must be guilty or he wouldn't be in my court, now let me see what I'll slap him with." Judge Dredd

    I chose one of Sylvester Stallone's characters because too many years got between the city judge in my home town and not. He was a Loony Toon, certainly now a Merry Melody, I saw him jumping up and down, pointing with one hand, banging his gavel like a machine gun, and shouting "YOU'RE GUILTY, GUILTY, GUILTY!!!" There were so many complaints the Council had to get rid of this loony tick, they unanimously passed a residency ordinance. He lived 30 miles to the south, go home alpha hotel.

    When Uncle Charlie abandoned engineering and became a spectrum auction house it was the beginning of the end. As Mark Bolan of T Rex wrote;
    See the girl in dance
    In her man-skin pants
    Such a rip-off
    Terraplane Tommy
    Wants to bang your gong
    It's a rip-off
    Such a rip-off

    Oh, if you name the loony tune, the merry melody WB used as the intro to their cartoons you win a Kewpie doll!
    Last edited by kb2vxa; 09-02-2020 at 04:54 AM.
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  10. #20
    Orca Whisperer W3WN's Avatar
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    You mean the tune "Rip-Off" by T.Rex?
    https://genius.com/T-rex-rip-off-lyrics
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1pG-23Jvuw


    Or did you mean "The Merry-Go Round Broke Down" by Cliff Friend & Dave Franklin, written in 1937?
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Me...7%20to%201969.


    Last edited by W3WN; 09-02-2020 at 06:23 AM.
    “Nobody is going to feel sorry for us. 90% of the people don’t care, the other 10% are glad it happened.” — Clint Hurdle, 2019

    BAN THE DH!

    Fudd's First Law of Opposition: If you push something hard enough, it WILL fall down.
    Teslacle's Deviant to Fudd's Law: It goes in, it must go out.

    Just remember: Abraham Lincoln didn't die in vain. He died in Washington, DC

    Cutch 2K!!

    “Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Trump golfed.” — Bernie Sanders

    Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati


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