California takes "space" out of Ham Plates

The California Department of Motor Vehicles issued a memo today reversing their earlier position that all ham plates will have a space after the number in the callsign. We finally won!!

Hugh, AE6YC went to the Thousand Oaks DMV office Jan 18 armed with photos of callsign plates on vehicles taken at January's Conejo Valley Amateur Radio Club meeting. None of the plates had a space in the callsign. Hugh asked that his plate be issued the same way. The supervisor at the DMV looked up each plate on her computer and found that the Department showed a space on each one after the 6, even though the actual plates did not have a space. Hugh said "She then filled out all the forms for my replacement plates without the SPACE, and had me sign them." She submitted the information obtained from Hugh and her request to issue AE6YC "no space" plates to her supervisor in Sacramento.

That local DMV supervisor called AE6YC today and said that an official inter-department memo had been issued today from Sacramento. It finally resolves the "space" issue for call plates in our favor.

Iimmediately after I received Hugh's e-mail, I contacted the DMV and attempted to obtain a copy of the internal memo. They would not release it to me, however did let me see it at a local office.

The unsigned memo from the DMV's Communications Programs Division contains some technical procedures for handling amateur radio plate applications and specifically steps for re-issuing plates to amateurs who have current plates with spaces. Employees at the DMV local offices will receive training on this change in policy beginning tomorrow Feb 6, 2008. The memo says:The new "no space" plates are to be issued and all fee's will be waived to amateurs who request them. You will be allowed to keep your current plates until your new ones arrive, then you must "properly destroy" them.

New plate requests for amateur radio operators who do not currently have callsign plates will still be required to pay the normal $21 special plate fee and follow steps 1 and 3 below.


Here is how you request your "no space" callsign replacement plates:

You will need two forms that may be downloaded or obtained at your local DMV.

1. REG 17A, SPECIAL LICENSE PLATE APPLICATION

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/forms/reg/reg17a.pdf

2. REG 256, STATEMENT OF FACTS

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/forms/reg/reg256.pdf

3. A copy of your amateur radio license is required and must accompany your application

REG 17A Front side, part 2, TYPE OF PLATE ORDER. Add your name etc., check off the type of vehicle and fill in your amateur radio callsign in the area provided. On the back side, part 4 REPLACEMENT ONLY, check off "Two Plates. Then sign, date and add your phone. Attach a COPY of your amateur radio license.

REG 256 Front side, Add license plate, VIN and year/make in the blanks. Back side, Add license plate, VIN and year/make in the blanks. Part G, STATEMENT OF FACTS. I the undersigned state:

Here is where you tell your story, something like:

Re: Amateur radio callsign plates_______________
My current amateur radio license plates are incorrect. They contain a space after the 6 and before the next letter and that is not my Federal Communications Commission issued amateur radio license callsign. (see attached)

Please send me replacement plates that are printed correctly. My correct callsign is________________ (with no spaces)

The California DMV internal memo of 2/05/08 clarifies this and states that there is no charge for the replacement license plates for my vehicle.

I wish to retain my current plates until the replacement plates arrive. At that time I will properly destroy the old incorrect plates.

******************************************************************************

You should receive your replacement plates in 6 to 8 weeks.

This is good news for California radio amateurs who have been frustrated for almost five years trying to resolve this issue. Our congratulations and thanks to those hams who worked in the background with the DMV, all who wrote and/or called their elected officials and the DMV. Special thanks to Hugh Bosma, AE6YC.



73,
Terry, K7FE
Editor QRZ.COM

 

Hooray!! Glad to hear this news. A victory!

 

Excellent news!...the state of California finally allowing the proper way a callsign should be shown on vehicle licence plates...a well deserved victory

73

 

Hey that's good news!!

Noticed in the requirements that says "you must destroy the old ones upon receipt of the new ones". Now does this mean you have to turn them in to be destroyed, or do they intrust you to destroy them yourself? It would be cool to be able to keep them as a keepsake in your station.

 

I had to laugh. No, not at CA, but it reminded me of FL, where no, there's no space, but the big Tropicana Logo (orange) in the center of the plate gets "squeezed" when amateur plates, or, for that matter, any special plates are produced.

It really looks dumb. Green letters stamped on top of the orange...... And, then there's the hemispherical "My Florida Dot Com" across the top.

I like "Stars Fell on Alabama" much better. Or,even more so, the special plate Alabama has just for hams with a tower on it on the left side. Cool.

So, rev-up the CA DMV and get a special plate design issued.


73.

 

Hmmmmmm.....

Hi All,

As you may have noticed, every time I put my call sign down, I put a dash between the 5 & the L. I do this because back in the '50's (Yes, I'm that old and can remember) local hams put gold-trimmed-in-red water decals in the back windows of their cars & always included the dash, I guess, to signify they were from the 5th call area. I have always continued that tradition. Yes, I know the F.C.C. does not issue a ham call with a dash, but, I still do this.

Also, some change is good, but I refuse to use metrics or "new terms" for electronic measurements or parts. So, it's still kilocycle, megacycles, gigacycles, micofarads, and micro-micro (mickey-mickey mics, he he he.

Yes, I DO run AM, but I'm not all up into that perfekt audio thang. If you can hear me well, it works.

Now, LOUISIANA dropped giving ham plates for one dollar more and went after the "revenue thing". Ham plates are considerd vanity plates and are sixty dollars! So much for what we do during Hurricanes. There maybe HOPE yet. We've just elected a whole new set of legislators and not the 'old-boy network' and have a new governor, so maybe we can get our
ham plates back for cheaper. I'll want a "dash" in mine, LOL!

Respectfully,
73,

King, Ace, 5, Lucky, Queens & Jacks.....my name is Don, Double Or Nothing, goes with the poker hand

 

So, where's the ARRL been? Let's see, I think LA is Delta Division territory. http://www.arrldelta.org/ Perhaps the Delta Director had best get up and see if he can motivate the Newington Caste to object to this high-priced revision. You know, its Homeland Security stuff. CERT, Skywarn, etc.

Oops, I almost forgot. The Bushy usually just "flies past" Louisiana and waves out the window while sipping a martini (their new word for one on AF-1 is a "Katrini")

 

Californlaws

short and sweet... yet another reason why I left California years ago for the pleasant state of Iowa....

KK0DJ

 

Florida Ham Plates

Hello all,

I had a problem here in Florida where I had a special MARINE CORPS plate which I paid extra for, when it came time to renew I went into the DMV and requested a MARINE CORPS plate but with my ham call on it, THEY SAID NO!!
Long story short, I talked to a few supervisors and they made some phone calls and got it done!! Now I have my MARINE CORPS plates and my callsign on it and No Florida.com or any orange fruit or anything on it. Since then I have seen one other with ARMY plate and callsign.

73

SEMPER FI

Phil, KM4OP

 

CA Ham plates

Yeah, a number of folks had given up and said
that nothing could be done. Having beat CA DMV
into submission in the early '80s for the first DP
amateur plate in the state, I know things CAN be
done, given the "impetus" to do so. They just
have to be leaned on "correctly"! Thanks, Hugh
and Terry!
Deanna W6DWS

 

Having a family member who works in the California Assembly, I am familiar with who was involved in this effort. As I have been told, the members who directly contacted DMV Legislative Unit were Assemblymember Mike Feuer, Assemblymember Doug LaMalfa, Senator Dave Cox, and Assemblywoman Sharon Runner.

I would highly recommend that California Amateurs contact these members offices either via phone, letter, or email and thank them for their efforts! We may need them for the next "battle", and we want them to remember how gracious the Amateur community was!

If there are other members who participated, please post up their names so we can give them credit also!

Grass Roots does work sometimes.

73,

Andy W6AWS

 

For those interested here is a link to the California DMV announcement:

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/ham/ham_plate.htm

73,

Andy W6AWS

 

Thank you for the great news. I received my ham plates a few days ago from DMV and of course they were imprinted with the space between the number 6 and the first letter of my call (i.e. K6 KGO).

Thanks to you, I know how to proceed to get the plates reissued with no space. Thanks for all your effort and for taking the time to pass the good news along to the rest of us.

73,

Steven Gibson, K6KGO
Lake Almanor, CA

 

Here's what 'Bama's plates look like:

View attachment 15439

Send the Sacramento folks a good example to copy.

 

Everybody flies past Louisiana just because....