ARRL Encouraging Amateurs to File Comments Opposing FCC Fee Proposal

My grip is just fine.

May I helpfully suggest you hold your tongue.

Have great evening.

73
Chip W1YW

 

Walk the talk my friend. You conflated the homeless as an argument against a $50 license fee for a hobby which was silly and then got upset with me for pointing it out. Have a nice day.

 

People being homeless is tragic, but what does that have to do with FCC license fees we were discussing ?

 

Virtue signaling.....

Goes on in social media insistently, which gets very old....sad that its creeping into this place as well.

 

We are grouped in with commercial broadcasters who pay plenty to have a license. The database is not that great or very user friendly.

 

I use my time and my personal truck for community service on a regular basis too...but I don't piss and moan about the cost of insurance, tags, gas and my driver's license.

 

funny thing about volunteering... I gladly donate $hundreds over the year. but tax me with usurious fees, never!

 

As espoused by the previous posts, let me summarize it for you then:

1) The present NPRM makes no provision or provisions for EXEMPTIONS from the application fees;
2) There are a subset of hams who will lack an inability to pay and need these exemptions;
3) Clear evidence for an 'inability to pay', among others, is the inability to pay for basic human needs, like a roof over your head;
4) COVID Depression has forced an alarming number of people to forego the ability to pay for basic human needs;
5) What is happening IN LA--riots in Beverly Hills; tent cities in Venice, Hollywood; downtown, and so on-- are clear examples of the increasing inability to pay for basic human needs by an alarming increasing percentage of those NOW below the poverty line;
6) Some here seem to be unaware of the magnitude of the trying times, where the tent cities are a clear indication of said trying times.
6) It would be naive to assume that hams are not affected by the above trying times at some level, and we need to address this by supporting prudent and reasonable exemptions.

You may disagree.

What we can't do is stick our head in the sand.

Just because you may easily afford--as I can-- any new application fee, it still makes sense to support proposals for exemptions for those who cannot.

 

Frankly, I don't give a patootie whether you think I am the devil himself. I don't care about your assessment of my 'moral character'; it is not 'virtue signalling' by Chip. Sheesh!

This is not about me.

Don't be a dummy.

 

People go homeless for many reasons. Usually a tragedy or series of them. We had a local ham some years back whose wife had cancer. It wiped them out completely. Sad thing is she left him for a younger physical therapist once she went into remission.
Train wreck from then on, selling the house to satisfy the divorce he moved into a small apt. Then a heart attack and out of work several months. Job lost he went to another. While driving for said company he got hit by a drunk driver. Out again but permanently disabled. Being 58 he applied for social security disability but because he didn't have the quarters from his past employment due to heart attack he was denied. He had just enough cash to survive till 62 but not paying for an apt.
He hit the streets and we all stayed in touch as he still had a handheld left. Luckily a fellow ham found him shelter at a religious community in Fl. but he had a year and a half on the streets and a New England winter.

Now if he was up for renewal we would not have kept in touch and he wouldn't have got the chance for a place to live or the support from many of us in the meantime.. That's why some means test should be involved. Minors and those on fixed incomes like Social Security/ Disability should be exempt. As Hams we are meant to serve so we should fight for those less fortunate than ourselves. It's easy for us to say it's only $50 but for some that's too much.

I say quadruple the rates for vanity callsigns. Let the vain carry the lesser. As we know the vain will pay as they always have.

 

conflated, ludicrous and unresponsive to the issue of a hobby license fee - the trifecta of nonsense

 

Good thought...

 

Then you will pretty much be giving up every aspect of your life...because everything from you driver's license to your house payment has usurious fees.

 

I fail to see how :' hobby', 'license' ,'fee' constitute a "trifecta of nonsense".

Actually if you had READ the post--with comprehension- you would have noted the amusing and minor solecism I placed there, which actually is in the quote portion.

So, you didn't read it properly,IMO; you made a non sequitar comment; and your intent seems to be to attack on the basis of someone supporting exemptions for those who cannot afford the application (fees) for an amateur radio service license.

Sail on sailor!

 

Roger that OM.

Good luck on your crusade.

73