Except we are exempt from paying "regulatory fees", and those are what go to pay for the ULS (among other things). We are not expected or required to pay these fees, they are paid by others.
AOC shill. shill [SHil] NOUN an accomplice of a hawker, gambler, or swindler who acts as an enthusiastic customer to entice or encourage others. VERB act or work as a shill.
I did a fun little exercise. I looked up the call signs of all the cry babies and whiners. Surprise! Surprise! 80% are not paying members of QRZ. Checkout page one's biggest whiner. Click on his unpaid QRZ profile. Scroll down. Scroll down some more........and some more. Unbelievable that freeloaders can open their mouth about a $5.00 per year fee.
Stop being insulting. The fact we already pay too much in taxes is an excellent reason to protest this dumb and extraneous "fee" which will only go into the general fund to enable more irresponsible spending, waste, fraud, and abuse. For decades, our political leaders have promised to cut fraud, waste, and abuse from government spending, but somehow the problems persist, draining billions—some estimates would say trillions—of taxpayer dollars. Just say no, and while you're at it, write your representatives and tell them to STOP reckless spending programs that lead to endless regulations, spending, and higher fees and taxes. Matt Vespa, “New report lists 601 ways to save $2.6 trillion over five years,” 2015, http://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattve...-to-save-26-trillion-over-five-years-n1980578. View in article Bryan Bender, “How do you buy $7 billion of stuff you don’t need?” Politico, December 28, 2015, http://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/pentagon-investigation-billions-broken-by-design-216935. View in article US Office of the White House, “Cutting waste,” https://www.whitehouse.gov/economy/reform/cutting-waste.
You sound more like teenage rebel without a cause. Amateur radio is not that deep man. Neither are you sir.
If you feel insulted because you refuse to pay $5/year, yet have thousands of dollars worth of radios, amps, towers, and antennas sitting around, good! You should be insulted! Even more so, you should be embarrassed. I don't disagree that we pay a lot in taxes. Trust me, I see it on my paycheck every two weeks. I live in one of the highest-taxed states in the country. I get it. However, that does not change the fact that by being amateur radio operators, we are costing the FCC money for having to deal with licensing us. There are real costs associated with that, and we should pay for it. We pay for drivers licenses, fishing licenses, hunting licenses, boating licenses, fees to to enter our national parks, etc. And all are more than $50 for 10 years. I just paid almost $40 to renew my drivers license. Nobody is forcing anybody to pay the $50 fee. Just don't pay it. Go find some other hobby. Being a ham radio operator is not some sort of right, like many of the entitlement folks in this thread seem to believe. If you don't want to pay, you don't have to. That's the wonderful part of living in a free country.
I agree with N3FAA. Flying is a great hobby and biggest bang for the buck where a Federal agency is concerned. The FAA charges me $0.00 for my pilot certificate and $ 5.00 every three years for my plane's registration. I can't imagine what it cost all of those support staff, ATCs and FAST teams every year. I mean the FAA puts on all types of education/training programs to pilots free of charge! I basically pay the FAA nothing and get service out the ying yang. What would you get from the FCC for your money?
Not a darn thing. I don't feel insulted, or embarrassed, because what I own and the amounts in my bank accounts, has nothing at all to do with the government tax, or fee, in question. I think you should argue your point, if you have one, without making demeaning comments about other site members and visitors who don't share your opinion. This isn't Facebook, or Twitter, and we're not in the Just Talking/Political forum. We're not on the air. We're on a private website, with a membership expected to maintain reasonable decorum. To clarify, I believe your behavior toward other members of this site is insulting and offensive, and may be contrary to the site's Code of Conduct. Calling others "cheap" and saying they "should be embarassed" for disfavoring a government edict, is not in the spirit of the QRZ community I know and love. Aside from that, ARRL also disfavors the edict. Is ARRL cheap? Are you calling the ARRL Board Members and their Attorneys cheap? Are all the opposed commentors at the FCC ECFS site cheap, and should they feel embarrassed? Is everyone who disagrees with your opinion, cheap? Should they all feel embarassed? == Insult: To treat or speak to with scorn, or disrespect; a remark, etc. that hurts or is meant to hurt the feelings or pride. Cheap: contemptible; because of lack of any fine, lofty, or redeeming qualities. == QRZ Forums Code of Conduct 2. Expected Behavior + Exercise consideration and respect in your speech and actions. + Refrain from demeaning, discriminatory, or harassing behavior and speech. 3. Unacceptable Behavior + Personal insults +Sustained disruption of community activity https://forums.qrz.com/index.php?pages/QRZ_Forums_Code_of_Conduct/ Have a nice Thanksgiving.
Well then report my post and let the powers that be make that determination. I could care less. My opinion remains unchanged. As others have also mentioned, there are a bunch of freeloaders in this hobby who could care less what it costs the FCC to maintain our licenses, etc., because they're the big, bad government and should give us everything for free because we pay general taxes. Well that isn't how it works. And if you are unwilling to pay the cost of a cup of coffee per year for your license, then I feel you're cheap. That's all there is to it. If you can't afford to pay for a fishing license, you don't fish. If you can't afford a hunting license, then you don't hunt. If you can't afford a boating license, you don't boat. There are costs associated with every single hobby in existence, and if you can't afford the cost, then you don't join the hobby. But for some reason, we in this hobby, feel that we are somehow entitled to get everything for free. No idea how we came to have that attitude. Since you apparently didn't bother to read the thread, I did argue my point, and was called an "AOC Shill" for doing it. Here is my argument again just for you: As a community, we make up 40% of all ULS actions, and 70+% of all personal license actions in the ULS. Yet we pay absolutely nothing...not a dime. All the other licensees are covering our expenses and have for decades. For some reason, unbeknownst to me, people seem to think that it's okay. The second opinion seems to be that because 4% of us participate in public service, that we are also somehow entitled to not paying for the costs of processing our licenses. I have no idea when we became such an entitled bunch, but it's really sad.
Getting hams to pay for any portion of the ULS is a non-starter. The ULS is paid for by regulatory fees, not by application fees. Hams are exempt from paying regulatory fees. If a portion of the application fee is diverted to pay for the ULS, it would be contrary to that exemption. Hams aren't the only ones with an exemption, and there should be no problem with properly applying that exemption for hams. If the FCC wants to charge an application fee, it needs to follow the outline in the NPRM, and not be simply an arbitrary fee.
You It's not deep to others. The government wants money. They have to figure out a way to get it. So like gutless cowards, they select a weak, old, vulnerable group (we are human not animals) to TAX. I hope this is not at a depth beyond your reach. Consider your Sir returned.
N3FAA, Shill is the most accurate concise definition of your posts. It is not based on FEELINGS or PERCEPTIONS. It is as accurate as your posts and the english language allows. Your tone suggests a resentment to any that have accumulated "things" in their lifetime. I encourage you to point out where I am incorrect.
Second try. Shill is the most accurate concise definition of your posts. I is not based on my feelings or my perception of you. It is all the english language and your posts allow using facts you furnished by way of your posts. You have offended me. Not with facts but with your assumptions. With your reasoning. I often wonder this. Since I know what it takes to suceed in formal education, how is it that people who proport to be educated and well versed put forth arguments with a logic that would keep them in the second grade indefinitely and expect others to accept it as a truth? It's like politicians who are also lawyers that make law a that can't be upheld by the law? No personal attacks here. If anyone points out something that hurts you, it is pain's way of showing you the truth. A truth you deny. These words are what is known as self evident truths. That isn't a cute or historical tag line. That is how it is. But you already know that huh?
I'm very confused by how you might reach that conclusion, but that's okay. I'm not against accumulating anything. I'm a registered Republican, which is actually why I find your posts incredibly laughable. I'm all for accumulating "things." I have accumulated plenty of such "things." I also believe in paying for what you should be paying for, and not freeloading off of everyone else. In amazing juxtaposition, I actually think it's YOU who is the AOC shill, since you seemingly enjoy freeloading and having everyone else pay your way.
