Vanity processing may resume soon

From the ARRL...



Vanity call sign processing--an unintentional anthrax scare
victim--may soon resume. The FCC has not processed any vanity call
sign applications--paper or electronic--since October 14. Vanity
applications received after that date remain on hold, although all
vanity fees have been collected.



The vanity gridlock got started after mail received between October
15 and November 1 was diverted from the FCC's Gettysburg,
Pennsylvania, office for decontamination in the Washington, DC,
area. That mail, believed to contain more than 100 vanity
applications filed on paper, has not been returned to Gettysburg.
Current FCC policy says that paper and electronic vanity
applications get equal processing priority, so the Commission halted
vanity processing altogether until it could resolve the mail snafu.



FCC staffers in Gettysburg have been attempting to work around the
roadblock. Using vanity fee payment data from the FCC's fiscal
agent, Mellon Bank in Pittsburgh, the Licensing and Technical
Analysis Branch of the FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau in
Gettysburg has been contacting applicants directly to have them
resubmit their applications.



The FCC now is asking applicants whose paper vanity filings may have
arrived at Mellon Bank between October 15 and November 1 and who
have not been contacted to get in touch with the FCC to find out if
they need to forward a copy or facsimile of their original
paperwork. The request affects only vanity applicants who filed on
paper--not electronic filers.



Before contacting the FCC, however, applicants were being asked to
check the Universal Licensing System to see if their applications
are already on file with the FCC (under ''SEARCH,'' click
''Applications,'' click ''Continue,'' enter present call sign in the
''Call Sign'' field, and press the Enter key or click ''Search''--at the
bottom of the page. Click on the underlined number, if any, under
''File Number'' to view an application). If an application already is
on file, no further action is required.



If no application is on file, or if no Web access is available,
applicants should telephone the FCC Call Center, toll-free
888-225-5322; e-mail rtaylor@fcc.gov or fax 717-338-2696.



The Licensing Division believes it now has all paper applications
received October 15, 2001, in hand, and it could process all
applications received on that date as soon as this week. The FCC has
a record of when it received the paper vanity applications, and all
submittals will be processed in chronological order.



The FCC has been acting on amateur renewals and administrative
updates filed on-line via the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau's
Universal Licensing System. As of December 3, 2001, anyone filing an
application with the FCC must include an FCC Registration Number
(FRN).

 

I like the part where they (FCC) were too scared to process the applications but not too worried to process the checks in the same envelope. Hooah!

 

The FCC never saw the checks. The envelopes were opened by Mellon Bank employees (government contractors), the checks recorded and deposited, and the contents . . . well, they went wherever they went.

What precautions Mellon Bank took to shield their employees, or whether there are mails still floating around out there in the Great Beyond, is another good topic for speculation. There's been a great deal of discussion about this on Mike Carroll's Vanity Call Headquarters message board (http://www.carroll-usa.com/vanity), for obvious reasons.

73, Creede

 

I thought Mellon Bank lost their US contracts a couple months ago 'cause they lost a few million of the governments dollars...

Anyone else see that on the news???

73 de Ronnie

 

I didn't, but we don't get much Mellon Bank news out here in Washington.



How on earth do you lose a few million dollars? Did they check their couch cushions?



73, Creede