California takes "space" out of Ham Plates

I'm surprised they are issuing them without having you surrender the other ones. Usually they are quite picky about that......

I know every time I've applied for new or vanity plates I had to surrender them at the time of application. I know these are replacements, but still, every time I've had to surrender the old ones and have the dreaded "loser sticker" in the back window till the new ones showed up....

 

I wish that existed 9 years ago back home!

I had a plate similer to above but put eagle, globe & anchor to the left of plate and was good enough then. Oranges are for orange juice and myflorida.com is for ???...
Semper fi
de NFØA (Former N4FPO)

 

The purpose of having a vehicle registration plate is so the number is on display for those in authority who need to know, the police and other government organisations. The number needs to be identifiable from a distance its purpose is not to show the motoring world and your neighbours and friends that your official radio callsign is now on a mobile display unit. Why the CA licensing authority should be interested in this is a mystery, unless in their view having the numbers together makes it more difficult for the cops to remember the number or write it down. Seems to me that they have the same kind of brain activation as those employed by the European Union in Brussels who once discussed the shape of bananas from various parts of the world.

G0GQK

 

I prefer not to let people know that K5CO is not at home when I'm travelling. Vanity plates seem like an invitation to a burglar. But I have to congratulate anyone that can get anywhere with the United Communist State of California.

 

That is a consideration. However, Mrs. W6AWS is home with a Glock, so I don't worry!

Having Ham plates has allowed me to meet some pretty neat people. Hams are a friendly bunch, and rarely a trip goes by I don't have someone come up to me and tell me their callsigns. I have even had dinner on a business trip with a couple of Hams from Washington State who saw my call plates and invited me to join them.

To me, so far the reward has outwayed the risk!

73,

Andy W6AWS

 

I like that! Very Nice!

Thanks for sharing that.

73,

Andy W6AWS

 

W6EM sez...
"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")"

...sipping?? I thought he chugged them by the gallon.

 

Now if the states could all learn to slash the zeros. I got my callsign in Colorado, where they knew how to stamp a proper zero on a plate. When I moved to California, and now to Washington, my plates are virtually incomprehensible. Non hams think that WA0TTN sounds like Emer Fudd talking about a "wotten wabbit"

 

Dave Cox represents my area. He is a major Dick. Dont waste your time with him.

 

In Florida you can get your zero to look like a zero, but you have to make a notation on the application that says the zero should look like this. Then show them.

 

Like him or not, he stood up for Amateurs when others did not! That earns my appreciation!

Andy W6AWS

 

You chaps are lucky! On this side of the pond if I'd wanted my callsign on a car (I can't, it's already on someone else's) it would have cost me £999 (say two thousand dollars in round numbers).

Requested registrations are known as "Cherished numbers" here, but vanity is a far better description!

Cheers,
Howard G1BYY

 

Hi, Howard. Greetings from across "the pond" here in one of your country's namesakes: Leeds, AL. (Our Leeds is very small, however, in comparison)

When I used to live in CA, it was known for "screwing" auto owners with registration fees (hidden luxury tax). For example, our 1997 Volvo, purchased new in CA, cost us $1300 for the first year's license. About 3.25%. And, CA religiously continues assessing their annual "luxury" tax of 3.25% of the car's appraised value each year. I would be willing to bet its even a higher rate now.

It gave me great delight to rip up into a zillion sheds, the $800 license bill forwarded to our then-new Florida address.

You see, our 1997 Volvo, in the year 2000, was assessed a $35 license fee by the state of Florida.

Yes, in Florida, a $250,000 RV, a $500,000 Maserati, and a well-used 1997 Volvo have one thing in common: A $35 annual license fee and no other tax.
(That's why, even here in Alabama, we see loads of RVs with Florida plates).

Of course, auto insurance in FL was three times what it was in CA, so I guess governments tend to just shift the tax burden where they wish.....

And, I guess that's government vanity.

 

Bob

I was probably one of the first hams to get space ham plates and the lies from dmv. I immediately thought "ARRL has to be told" I sent an email to Bob Vallio W6RGG informing him what was happening and also asked him what should be done to correct this. After two weeks of no response I sent him another email and again no response. As of today I have never received a reply to my emails.

I am a life member of the ARRL and have been a member for about 30 years. I'm very, very disappointed with Mr Vallio and the entire ARRL Organization for the way they handled the ham space problem. All Mr Vallio had to do was send me a short email telling me that the ARRL was working on the problem through legal channels and that he would keep California Hams advised of the progress.

Mr. Vallio has state that the hams should have stayed out of it and not written letters, that the ARRL through their channels would handle it. What a bunch of BS!!
Believe me if I was not an ARRL Life Member I would not be a member at all!!

Don Borden NC6A

 

May I respectfully inquire... Who cares??

Here in New Hampshire we don't have ham radio call sign plates at all! What we do have is vanity plates, on which we can display our call signs. That's good enough for me, but it has a whole contingent of hams here in NH all up in arms. I think I have more critical things to worry about than whether my call letter plates have a space in them or whether my call letter plates are really vanity plates.

Rick WA1RKT