FCC Amateur License Fees Unlikely To Go Into Effect Until 2022

Link to ARRL website story:

http://www.arrl.org/news/fcc-application-fees-unlikely-to-go-into-effect-until-2022

 

I saw an email on that midday today

 

It means anyone can get a free renewal regardless of their license expiration date - if they know how.

 

Mine won't expire until 2024, so looks like I'll be paying the fee.

 

No, you can renew now and avoid the fee.

Here's how:

Step 1: Request a vanity call that you know you'll get. A call that has been unassigned for years - probably a 2x3.

Step 2: Watch the ULS carefully for when you get it.

Step 3: Once you have the new vanity call, immediately request your present call as a vanity. You'll get it because you're a former holder.

When a vanity call is issued, it gets a 10 year term regardless of the term of the existing license. This is a holdover from when there were vanity fees.

DISCLAIMER: I haven't tried this and I'm not advising it.

 

Too much trouble and I don't want to risk losing my current callsign, which I've had for nearly 30 years.

 

All that rigamarole to save $35 dollars? Well, if you are one to complain about the fee, then go for it. I like the HAI designation in my profile, but I'm shallow like that.....lol. Maybe I'll upgrade to Extra this year. Those bottom 25 kHz are finally starting to look tasty. It chaps my hide that people who never passed a code test get to use them, so instead of complaining, I'll just take the test. That should reset the clock, right?

 

They aren't the only ones that have people that think up new things to tax or make a fee for. Just check out all the new changes to places that tax most everything where a permit is required. And like everything else tax increases are very possible. Just watch where electric car owners will be hit with.

 

Well, I went ahead and did my General and Extra so maybe I'm covered until time to renew my license.

 

Is there some reason that non-ham taxpayers should be expected to subsidize hams?

 

Yes.

I "subsidize" the public boat ramp, but I don't own a boat.
I "subsidize" the dredging of our channel, but I don't have a boat to drive in the channel.
I "subsidize" the local school district but I have no children.
I "subsidized" when I got a divorce and was required by the court to donate $15 bucks to the NC Domestic Violence Shelter, but I've never beat my wife.
I "subsidize" the public fishing piers here, but I've never fished off the piers.
I "subsidized" the dog park here in town for dog owners who live in an apartment. But my dogs run in my 1/2 acre fenced back yard.
There's 4,933 more examples I could give you of things I "subsidize" but never get any benefit from. But I can't go into that without infringing the "no politics" rule.

So why should Ham radio be any different?
Why should ""subsidizing" always be a one-way street?

 

Because it is different.

Your examples are things that the economists call "public goods." The easiest example is free public education; all of society benefits from having a well-educated work force, so we all pay. Others, like dog parks, you might quibble with but your city has apparently decided that reduced dog poop on the sidewalks is also a public good.

Ham radio is a hobby. Really no different from the dog show hobby, competitive barbecue, dressage, skiing, surfing, and a hundred other hobbies. Hobbies are not public goods. (One might argue that ARES is a public good, but that would be an argument to share the cost of ARES, not to subsidize the large majority of hams who will never be involved in any real emergency communications activity.)

Admittedly there are some hobbies that benefit from public money, like golf. Personally, I can't see that golf should be considered a public good. Parks, yes. Golf courses, no.

And, really, is $35 a big deal? Storm the FCC? I'd wager that it is a fraction of one percent of what the vast majority of hams spend on their hobby during their license periods. The financial barriers to becoming an active ham dwarf the tiny fee.

 

It's not. But it's been my experience that once the government gets their hand in your pocket, they never stop. I'm good for 10 years because I went on and did my extra couple of weeks ago to avoid the upcoming fee. In 10 years, when it's $135.00 or $235.00, then I'll decide if it's worth it or not to renew and continue to "play radio".

I guess your opinion is one way to look at it, and I respect your opinion. So long as any station calling mayday or sos understands my "fun license" conveys no obligation to reply to or acknowledge their call. Doing so would be a "service".

 

Many hobbies are not public goods, yet they pay for the interests of others.

Once upon a time, I was a competitive target shooter. Every time I purchased a target firearm or any ammunition to practice my hobby, I paid a Federal Excise Tax [Pittman - Robertson Act of 1937] of ten percent to the US Fish and Wildlife Service for conservation efforts.

In the greater scheme of things, hobbies are "public goods". The sales taxes generated pay for public safety, roads, infrastructure, and other costs of governance.

 

Few people know of the 10% Federal Spearfishing Tax. I never knew about it until I started spearfishing. Every speargun, speargun tip, speargun band, speargun line, speargun tube, nut, bolt, screw, stringer, trigger, shaft, float, or anything else used for spearfishing I'm paying a 10% tax for the "privilege". Doesn't matter if I order it online, or buy it local from the dive shop. My dealer even adds it to the dynema string used to tie the bands. Doesn't matter if I buy it from them to use as an antenna guy line, not spearfishing. It's still taxed 10% on top of the state sales tax. Doesn't matter that I already "supported wildlife conservation" by buying a fishing license for the "privilege" to eat. Doesn't matter that the guy who catches the same fish on a rod and reel that I shoot with my speargun doesn't get a 10% tax on his rod and reel. Doesn't matter that the guy who gigs the same flounder I shoot with my speargun doesn't pay a 10% tax on his flounder gig.

Just one of the many perks to being in America I suppose. A "tax" or "fee" on everything.

Buy an appliance in NC.....a "white tax" added in addition to the sales tax. Buy a tire....a "disposal tax" added to the cost in addition to to the sales tax. Doesn't matter if I don't dispose of the tires, but use them on my cargo trailer to keep from buying brand new ones. I'm taxed on my house every year, I'm taxed on the 1/2 acre it sits on every year. I'm taxed on my truck every year. I'm taxed on every gallon of gasoline that goes into that truck... FIFTY CENTS PER GALLON in NC. I'm taxed on my RV every year. I'm taxed on my cargo trailer every year. I'm taxed on my flatbed trailer every year. I'm taxed for my Internet every month. I'm taxed for my cell phone every month. I'm taxed on my wife's car every year. I'm taxed on every license plate required for every one of those trailers and cars every year. I pay a "highway use tax" every year for the privilege of being issued a license tag to drive on the road I was taxed to build. Oh, I forgot the "Lubricant and oil disposal tax" on every quart of oil I buy to put in those vehicles I'm already taxed on for owning and taxed for using on the road I'm taxed for building.

The only thing I haven't been taxed or "fee'd" on in NC so far is my Veterans Healthcare. But I gave up my health in Iraq for the country that's taxing me to death, so I feel I already paid for that healthcare in full. And them some.

Maybe that's why I'm so against the FCC fee. NO Sir, $35 "isn't that much" as others say. It's just a drop in the bucket for all the **** I'm already being fined on for the privilege to enjoy while I live in my country.

So you'll have to forgive me if I feel "entitled" to pick up a radio and talk without being beat out of another damned "fee". Whether it's "only $3.50 per year" or $135.00 per year is inconsequential.

Thanks for the opportunity to vent.