I think it's more like Common Scents because it all smells like total BS as usual from D.C. so what's new? Clayton W4KVW
You mean they still have field offices open? In that case, if they do close half of them, I doubt the situation will be any different than it is now. The FCC is very little deterrent to those that see the ham bands as their own private play ground. Just because the FCC will be doing half of the job they are doing now, doesn't mean that twice as many idiots will start messing up the ham bands. I guess I just don't see it as the doom and gloom that others do... besides, we are on the down hill side of the sun cycle. When it comes back up and the crazies come back, most of us may not even be active hams on HF. Everyone will be doing ham radio on the internet and we all know there are no crazies there. Mike
It doesn't work that way. By law, if the FCC charges a fee for the licence, the money they collect goes directly to the US Treasury and the FCC would still be funded by whatever congress decides to appropriate just as it is now. In fact, the FCC did charge amateurs and CBers fees for a while back in the 60s, and discontinued the practice because the additional duty of tax collector just added more work for them without affecting their funding.
Yes, the US Government is making cuts all over the place, reducing services, yet the taxes still go up! Someone has to pay for all the illegal immigrants, and people who don't want to work.
I am always against paying more to the gov't... but this time I'm with KI4AX. I WOULD be willing to pay a renewal fee to keep them on the job.
Taxes for some have gone down greatly over the past 30-40 years. Personal income tax rates are at historic lows. But, yes more needs to be done to watch out for our own and stop taking on more and more mouths to feed. I personally do not like the idea of having less FCC Field Offices and Agents. When the CB community realized that there was virtually NO ENFORCEMENT on the CB bands is when it became a free for all. Before that everyone kept things 'safe and sane' because of the fear of 'Uncle Charlie.' Just the rumor of the FCC van in the area was enough to keep some of the splatter boxes off the air. And everyone seemed to know when it showed up in town. If laws were changed, a few fees collected, and some of the millions of illegal CBers were fined I believe the FCC's Enforcement Branch could become more self sufficient. I have already written my Congressman and would suggest everyone else do same. They will usually act on something if they get enough grief from enough of the right people. Or if they fear being smeared up in the NEWS media. Dan
BS. And political BS besides. My question is, when the amateur and commercial airwaves become a total cesspool for lack of enforcement - will the gov't try to fix the problem or just throw up a white flag and let all the airwaves go to rot? I see the day coming when MW/SW radio is more or less a free-for-all. Sad.
On the ARRL website there is an O.O. program. Maybe that could help? Nothing like peer pressure also. Anything is better than nothing.
As would I. When I applied for my license, I was quite surprised to learn that the license was free. But if they are so pressed for resources that they must further reduce enforcement with these additional drastic cuts then I would actually be happy to pay a modest fee for granting and renewing licenses as that would seem a very fair trade off so long as the money were used to better enforce and protect our bands (and issue actual paper licenses). I would even happily pay more than $20 provided it was still a 10 year license.
$20 every TEN years?? While it would be better than nothing, if at least a good portion of the money could be directed to enforcement, I would gladly pay that ANNUALLY. I'm by no means wealthy, but I pay 4 times that amount every year to register my freakin' CAR and my state is still pretty cheap in that regard. Radio is important enough for me that I would happily contribute to the continued survival of the hobby.
Even with the 'tax cuts', the US Treasury is taking in record amounts of revenue, so, that would seem to be a weak, at best argument. The problem would seem to be one of 1) setting priorities and 2) spending (spending on so-called entitlements for instance.) Don't believe me? Look it up ... http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/displayafact.cfm?Docid=200 http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/oct/15/feds-tax-take-hits-all-time-high/?page=all Jim WB5WPA
I'm with you on this one, PRIORITIES, and WASTE are the ISSUES. And corrupt agenda led politicians with their pockets open, have led us where we are today. Just look at the SPENDING since 1982. Reagan got it started with trickle down economics. The current administration and it's agenda and power grab is making our debt much worse. It's no surprise they would want to shut down those FCC offices. It's very sad to think about the consequences of their actions.
From http://energycommerce.house.gov/press-release/committee-leaders-question-proposal-close-two-thirds-fcc-field-offices "In the letter to Wheeler, full committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI), Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR), Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Tim Murphy (R-PA), and Rep, Mike Pompeo (R-KS) question the FCC about the decision to close these field offices and request all internal and external FCC documents about the decision. The leaders write, 'Your proposal to shutter 16 of the commission’s 24 field offices raises significant challenges and concerns. The commission has represented to Congress and the American people that it will 'preserve the integrity of public safety communications infrastructure by taking action on 99% of complaints of interference to public safety communications within one day,' yet your proposal to reduce the geographic footprint of the commission appears to ignore the impact this might have on the commission’s public interest goal.'" "99% of complaints within one day." Sounds like a politician's promise to me. What a joke. Sure, as long as the entity being interfered with has lots of $$$. Btw, here's the link to who the representatives are on the Energy and Commerce - Comm and Tech subcommittee. If you actually have a rep who you think might listen to you. A few do, many do not. But we already know that. http://energycommerce.house.gov/subcommittees/communications-and-technology#members
