FCC proposes new filing fee structure, new fees for ham radio

Okay my two cents worth, if I have to pay $50.00 for my next renewal there will be a lot of cheap gear going on sale. At 72 and social security being so low I don't know about where will money come from to pay the fee. Now if they always had a lifetime license 15 years ago no worries. KEEP THE BANDS GIVE US MORE of them maybe I'll do it.

 

Actually, they can: Just as you are in the Social Security pool, and make the Social Security Death Index (you hear every once in a while how someone accidentally gets put on the "dead list" in the news) and a quick cross index search of Federal licenses of all kinds and "Presto!" (Or maybe it's "Poof!" ?;-) and you are a Silent Key, AND you're Dead! And Hey, I just MIGHT want to die soon, or at least nine years and 364 days into the "final" renewal, just so I don't have to fill out another Form 610. But if I'm WRONG about this procedure? Well, I (or YOU) will have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to Worry About. Well, you anyway. Me? I'm afraid of spending an Eternity with my Ex-Wife. Yea, I suppose that would be worse than filling out another Form 610. But not by much, I reckon.

73 DE W8LV BILL

 

Yea, I know what you mean: I just turned sixty. Today. And I figure that if I have to buy new roofing shingles? I'm getting the ones with the Ten Year Warranty. That's going to save me Bundles on the Bundles, so to speak. No more 30 year shingles for me! Instead, that's "Going To The Beach" money.

All the Best!
73 DE W8LV

 

$50 for a 10 year license is chump change, especially compared to what hams in other countries pay.

I propose that for Tech licenses for people under the age of 16, that it be be free and it lasts until they turn 18. For those age 16 to 18, they pay $25 and it lasts until they turn 18. (Sorry, kids aren't paying for a license, they didn't pay for their $1000 iPhone and $40 a MONTH cellular data plan, their parents did.)

For a person under the age of 18 to get a General or an Extra, they pay 50% of the rate and it lasts until they turn 18.

After that, $50 every 10 years to renew is perfectly fine. Personally, I think they should raise it to $100 every 10 years (or allow people to charge their credit card on an installment plan). Use the money to do ENFORCEMENT. Start fining people and make the fines stick. Yank their drivers license and withhold tax refunds if they don't pay!

$50 to get or keep a vanity license is also fine for me.

Change of address, etc. should be free. Personally, I would LOVE to see the FCC allow you to opt out of having your address made public. Who knows, if they want to have a fee there, say $25 to be private, that would work for me as well.


Given the cost of the hobby, $50 over 10 years is nothing in this day and age ... especially give then cost of cellular phones, data plans, internet costs, etc. that no one here seems to have an issue with paying.

My 2 cents.

 

There's an old saying:

"Ask for the sun, accept the moon"

Consider the possibility that FCC may have intentionally set the price at $50, knowing they'd get a ton of opposition. They can then reduce the fee to, say, $20, and everyone pays up. And they look good.

But if they'd originally set the price at $20, there'd still be at ton of opposition, and they'd have to play hardball to keep it there.

It would not surprise me if that's exactly what's going on. So the best approach is to offer them alternatives, and request an explanation of why it costs $5 a year to administer a license where almost everything is automated.

The Big Problem is that we really don't know how they compute the actual costs. And you can bet they're not going to tell us.

----

An observation:

I have always been a bit mystified at the use of the phrase "fixed income" when someone is retired. Most working people are also on a "fixed income" - if they're lucky! Sure, anyone can ask the boss for a raise, but good luck getting one in "hard times" - and it seems that for most employees, it's almost always "hard times".

There may be a few employees today who are paid by the hour who can take on more hours to get more pay. But there aren't many.

Social Security payments are automatically increased, by law, in accordance with the CPI-W Consumer Price Index. This happens every year. Workers do not automatically get increases every year.


73 de Jim, N2EY

 

A couple of things to do:

1) Start saving up. Toss your loose change in a coffee can, sell off something you don't need, etc.

2) Post comments to FCC. Make sure they are grammatically correct, properly formatted, easy to read. Get someone to proofread them before you send to weed out mistakes.

3) Get your General. Better yet, get your Extra.

4) Apply for a vanity callsign while they're still free. If I understand how the vanity system works, getting a vanity callsign gives you an automatic renewal too, regardless of when you get it. I think WB7MRI is available....

 

A lot more than you would think. And yes at our own expense. But that is not why we do it. It is for the preservation of life.

 

Even during non-emergencies, which is most of the voluntary noncommercial communication service time/$$ we donate.

I don't know of anyone in particular who's gotten a systematic change, but would that also hold true?

 

The City Governments, Realtors, and Banks had quite a "Happy Period" when they could talk Dick and Jane into that "Starter House" mentality and those 30 year loans, didn't they?

The Collusion, Not a Conspiracy, but YES, a Collusion continued for Decades.

Trailers? Out!

Modular Construction?
Out!

And now, the "small home" movement? Kept out by zoning and convenants stating minimum square feet on a given lot!

And it all worked so well. The City Coffers kept filling. The bank had more cash on hand, even as they manipulated things to be required to keep even less cash on hand. No Problem, the Feds said, after all, if you SAY that you're overregulated? Well, we're from The Government they said to the banks, and we're here to Help You. So every downturn was answered at the the largest level by manipulating interest rates and printing money.

(And the Realtors? They had it made, too. Almost forgot the Little Buggers...)

None of them even needed a license to steal, because Dick and Jane were so willing to hand their cash to them every thirty days like clockwork, forever.

Dick and Jane were so Happy! And why not? The Upward Mobility seemed like it would go on forever. Until it didn't.

Which brings us to now.

What does this have to do with fifty bucks for a ham license? A LOT. Because, from Federal Income tax, to Local Income Tax, to Property Tax, the Endless School Levies to even the tax on tires and the Utilities and the fuel and let's not forget the sales tax and all of the permits and petty petty little renewal tax stickers? We just don't have fifty bucks left over. That's Just How It Is.

73 DE W8LV BILL

 

It's sort of like when someone has an 80 meter dipole only 30 feet up in the air, they call it an "NVIS antenna", to make it sound as if it were deliberately that low, and not just because they didn't have a way to get it higher.

 

What percentage, exactly?

What kind of "disaster relief"?

And..when?

Of course!

The thing is, FCC is going to want hard numbers and recent examples.

 

All this is, is to line the pockets of the higher ups

 

50.00 for both would be okay Amateur Radio and the General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS)

 

Look at it this way its a Dollar per week.
Take a dollar each week and put it in a jar on your radio desk.
If your a ham with no equipment or have been inactive for years then save the money and drop it.