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

I'm on a so-called "fixed income" ... but my "fixed income" is at least $50 higher than my expenses.

 

My fixed income means my spending has been neutered!

 

Amen Bill,Amen Bill.

 

just a tidbit on the fixed income. I have a fixed income. before coming down with parkinsons and another health issue that is non curable,.in 2009 i was making over 70 grand a year including overtime.

Now, im making just over 15,000 year including overtime .HI HI. social security doesnt pay squat. this is for 3 people. mY wife,myself and my son. Worked 30 years in construction and electronics and this is what i get every year. My social security raise? $8 dollars total.I didnt want disability but my employers tried to fire me since i was"not qualified anymore for my job positiondue to my health . my doctors wont sign off on me since i was mainly a high voltage lineman and electronics tech .cant climb,hands shake like an unbalanced washing machine. all employers around me wont hire me due to the safety issues regarding my health. Lost my cdl for driving line trucks with booms, etc.

I dont get a huge raise everytime they hand out raises. I worked for my points to get my social security. In fact i had over the amount to get mine. Now, someone who never or hardly worked for it and just was given it to them, they can get up to $2400 and more depending on where you live.Or you are getting $600 week unemployment from the governemnt now.But not me the one who worked for it. Me? i rat hole every extra dollar a month. after utilites,food,etc im left with about $100 out of my pay every month. $20 gets stuck back for savings, and the rest for gas, meds,etc.If my wife sells stuff on ebay, its just extra for us.My son mows lawns and does other things to make money to pay for his stuff, repairs computers and helps out around the house by helping with food, etc.

And we dont get foodstamps. I never asked for them and wont.Same for food banks etc. We grow alot in our garden and make our own dishes for food. cheaper and healthier. and we dont believe in having our hands stuck out for help from the government. Government isnt the answer to all our problems.

Yea social security payments are supposed to be increased by law, but if you are disabled, you are on the bottom of the barrel.So when you think EVERYONE GETS A RAISE WITH SOCIAL SECURITY, remember the disabled ham who only gets just over 15,000 a year.How do i afford it? I built alot of mine, repair some with the help of my son and resell the ones i dont want , and the money helped buy my icom 746,flex-1500 etc.And i still homebrew all my antennas, straight keys,etc. After all WE USED TO DO THIS WHEN I STARTED OUT IN THE 70s.But with all this i still would pay $50 for a lifetime license. Just remember this: no federal employee, no state, county or local governemnt official was laid off. Remember this when THEY HAVE THEIR HANDS OUT FOR HIGHER FEES,LICENSES,PERMITS,ETC.

 

I vote No for the $50 fee for everyone. They should put the bite back in to enforcement, and when the fines are over a certain amount, take their house. take their equipment. period be done with it.Make it a felony to intenionally jam a repeater, or intentionally transmit music and profanity on our hf bands. We all know who they are because they do it constantly.IFthey are not going to give us a lifetime license, then NO. IF they are, YES.

As for the others who posted on here that there is the gmrs and fmrs services,etc Well there are part 15 bands on our hf and low bands too. Yes you can transmit cw free without a license in sections of the hf and lowband . As long as you meet the low power requirements,and antenna requirements. Since we have wsjtx and jtdx software, plenty of contacts can be made license free.:

HiFER is high frequency experimental radio operating within a 14 kHz-wide band centered at 13.56 MHz.[5] This frequency range is allocated to industrial, scientific and medical uses as well as Low Power Communication devices under FCC Part 15 rules where a small level of radio frequency radiation is allowed without licensing. (See RFID for other uses of this frequency).

In the U.S., license-free operation is also allowed on the medium frequency band, also known as the AM Broadcast Band. Similar to LowFER, MedFER is medium-frequency experimental radio. MedFER enthusiasts operate under FCC Part 15 rules using 0.1 W (a tenth of a watt) and a three-meter-long antenna between 510 kHz and 1705 kHz, coinciding with the U.S. AM radio band.[3]Source is wikipedia. So who wants to meet on 13.56mhz? HI HI

 

Just an update on the filing count:

Docket 20-270
Commission Documents
Small Business Impact
Amendment of the Schedule of Application Fees Set Forth in Sections 1.1102 through 1.1109 of the Commission's Rules
Bureau Name
Office of Managing Director
Date Created
8/24/20
Total Filings
703

Comments can be filed here: https://bit.ly/32O7WLi

 

I received my 1st class ticket w/radar endorsement in 1965. Also remember paying a application fee, but don't remember how much it was. It was renewed every 5 years until it was changed to the General Radio License and was made a life time ticket. Even address and/or name changes are no cost. If a copy is needed you print it via FCC website. I see no reason that the ham ticket could not be made a life time ticket. An application fee for the testing could be collected for the test sessions but modifications could be free. Vanity calls could have their own fees structure. Just my 2 cent thought.

 

You can also see all the responses to date. Some are good.

 

It's the same old theme. FCC is out for the money and not serving the radio world. FCC used to be a prestigious agency until they started the politics thing. When they started auctioning off the cell frequencies and others, the only thing their eyes could see was dollar signs.

Jack--W0XR

 

I see a reason, in Amateur radio the operator license is also the station license and the FCC has laws they have to follow on station licenses. One being that a station license cannot be issued for more than 10 years.

We can make the operator license separate from the station license, and issue that for a lifetime. Perhaps the operator license could have no fees attached to it. What happens then is people will still need a station callsign, and that gets back to the application being subject to the application fee and the 10 year period for the station license being valid.

Perhaps the idea for free lifetime Amateur operator licenses has some merit. Children could use a call sign from a parent, a school or club station license, or some other arrangement, freeing them from the station application fees, 10 year licenses, and other limitations that the current Amateur combination of operator and station license.

I'm assuming this law requiring application fees collected is for a station license and not an operator license. There is precedent for this in commercial operators having the station license separate from the operator license. There was a time when it was routine for licensed Amateurs to have multiple callsigns. This may have been from holding Technician and Novice licenses at the same time, it could have been from people having multiple operating locations and the FCC requiring notification of a move or another callsign to avoid this. Even today there are club and special event callsigns issued with regularity.

This solution could open all kinds of new problems. One I can foresee is people "camping" on a number of unique callsigns for whatever reason. If it costs them "only" $50/decade then they can "buy up" a number of them.

So long as an Amateur radio operator license is also considered a station license the FCC has to play by the rules on station licenses needing to be revoked or renewed at the end of 10 years. An alternative is changing the law on how long a station license can last. But if we are taking the path of a new law then instead pass a law that exempts Amateur radio from these fees, that's something I see more likely to happen than change the rules for all station licenses.

 

You bet! The $50 fee is just a "water tester." What they do is drop it to $30 and everybody says "Whew -- $30 isn't that bad," and they get away with the conspiracy.
My suggestion is allow us to transmit music on AM and collect advertising monies (or something). If they allow business to be conducted on GMRS, quid pro quo.
Maybe we can charge for our services during an emergency. Maybe we can take back an "equipment use fee" if the local government doesn't supply equipment. Perhaps we can charge a per-mile fee for traveling to the hurricane afflicted areas and, of course food, lodging, etc.
I mean, isn't it bad enough that we hone our skills and purchase thousands of dollars of equipment -- not to mention maintenance -- without compensation?
Someone at the FCC has forgotten what we do.
Unless you want your frequencies to go to 7G Cellular, complain like crazy!

 

I would pay a $50 exemption fee for my hobby to be just that. I don't need or want *another* job.

 

President Trump was forced to sign the RAYBAUMS Act into law as-is because he didn't have the authority of line-item veto, something presidents have wanted at least since the Reagan administration.
Since the majority of hams I know are Trump supporters, Trump may issue an Executive Order making application fees exempt (hint, hint) to keep the peace among us hams, and to get more votes.
I agree that there is a need for measures to curb abuse of the vanity call sign system, but punishing all hams for the actions of a few is unjust and un-American.

 

I would not support the line item veto, and here is why. Imagine a bill, debated vigorously in Congress where both sides finally agree that taxes from X goes to fund project Y. As an example perhaps it's a tax on tires to pay for roads. With a line item veto then POTUS (whomever it may be at the time) can then line out either one of those items. This means the roads are funded but no new taxes to pay for it, or a new tax but no funds for the roads. No matter which side you are on here there can be a coin toss on who wins or loses. If POTUS and members of Congress all vote along party lines then this gives a political party far more power than it should.

POTUS should not have a line item veto. It should be all or nothing. If he doesn't sign then there's still a process to override a veto. Does this not also mean that a line item veto can be overridden? Yes. That means we don't need a line item veto because there's a process to override a veto of the entire bill.

The power of the executive order has been abused in recent history, and it's been Congress not acting on this abuse that has allowed people that held the office of POTUS to feel free to continue pushing the boundaries of what the executive branch can do.

I believe that President Trump does not have the authority, or the will, to ignore the text of the law so blatantly. What the executive branch could do is declare Amateur radio stations as fitting the non-commercial exemption defined in the law. Congress allowed for non-commercial stations to be exempt from these fees, if Congress intended to have this fee apply to Amateur radio then that should have been in the original bill or it can be added later once their error was revealed by the executive order.

What is also unAmerican, in my opinion, is violating the letter and spirit of the US Constitution. The executive branch should not be in the business of writing law. A line item veto is, in effect, writing law. An executive order in violation of a law is writing law.

The federal government has got itself in the habit of writing "sloppy" laws and allowing the executive branch to fill in the details as it pleases. Too many members of Congress have allowed POTUS too much latitude in how the government is run. This means POTUS has far too much influence on the government. In my opinion President Trump has shown considerable restraint in the use of executive orders. It would be to our benefit in the long run that he and future Presidents show restraint and not abuse the executive order.

If there is a bad law passed then we need to have it followed or good laws run the risk of not being followed. Bad law can be rectified with a new law, being challenged in court, and more.

We should not punish the many for the actions of the few, and we should not allow POTUS to have too much authority over our lives. In fact the federal government should not have so much authority over our lives, but that's not a topic over FCC regulations any more so I leave that as something for the reader to ponder.