FCC Could It Be?!?!? Lifetime Licensing!!! Hopefully....

[Clyde]

I ran across the following on the ARRL's website. It looks like there is a push towards the FCC issuing lifetime licenses instead of 10 years. I personally think this would be a great idea.... What do you think?

The FCC is seeking comments on a Petition for Rule Making (RM 11760) that asks the FCC to grant lifetime Amateur Radio licenses. Mark F. Krotz, N7MK, of Mesa, Arizona, filed his request with the FCC last November. He wants the FCC to revise § 97.25 of its rules to indicate that Amateur Radio licenses are granted for the holder’s lifetime, instead of for the current 10 year term. Krotz noted that the General Radiotelephone Operator License (GROL) already is issued on a lifetime basis, and he maintained that not having to renew licenses would lighten the FCC’s workload.

Individuals may submit comments via the FCC’s Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS) (ARRL.org, 2016).

For further reading please see:
http://www.arrl.org/news/fcc-seeks-comments-on-petition-to-grant-lifetime-amateur-radio-licenses

 

[CommoFreq]

Ha, yeah, I ran into this discussion a few weeks back. I have to say - the guy who started this all - he knows how to speak "government". Meaning, "these are all the reasons why it would be beneficial to the FCC to go ahead and do this, let me count the ways".

I have a good feeling about this too. I think they're going to go ahead and do it. The trade off would be, $15 licenses are now $50 licenses. And if it's for a lifetime, I doubt anyone would have a problem with this. Imagine the cash we shell out for our gear. . .

 

[Clyde]

Ha, yeah, I ran into this discussion a few weeks back. I have to say - the guy who started this all - he knows how to speak "government". Meaning, "these are all the reasons why it would be beneficial to the FCC to go ahead and do this, let me count the ways".

I have a good feeling about this too. I think they're going to go ahead and do it. The trade off would be, $15 licenses are now $50 licenses. And if it's for a lifetime, I doubt anyone would have a problem with this. Imagine the cash we shell out for our gear...

I do think it has merit in some respects, but one area that it may cause a slight problem, though probably not a huge one is the recycling of call signs. Especially the 1x2 and 2x1 call signs that Extra Class licensees like.

 

[CommoFreq]

I know. I already gave up trying to get one of those.

 

[Clyde]

I know. I already gave up trying to get one of those.

I got one, but it is for the other side of the country. I didn't think it would be a big deal..... how wrong i was.... it is irritating......

 

[CommoFreq]

Yeah, my number and location don't line up either. Oh well, they'll get over it. I'm not going to make someone else's problem my problem too. There's hundreds of others here with the "correct" number that they can talk to, if it's really that big of a deal for them.

 

[Clyde]

Yeah, my number and location don't line up either. Oh well, they'll get over it. I'm not going to make someone else's problem my problem too. There's hundreds of others here with the "correct" number that they can talk to, if it's really that big of a deal for them.

Very true! Many other hams figure I moved from that location to my current. It never seems to amaze me how many hams out there try to correct other hams, yet have no idea what they are talking about. I get it a lot when my kids are on the air.

 

[CommoFreq]

Yeah, I was surprised to have received a card in the mail from an "ARRL official observer", indicating that my data transmission had a bandwidth that was just a little "too wide". The origin was Commiefornia. No shock there. . .

You really have to appreciate what went into this nonsense. He had a special card (about the size of a post card) printed up just for this purpose, and he hand-wrote the information in, took it to the post office, and paid for the postage. He even referenced which FCC regulation governed bandwidth transmission, and offered to provide a screenshot of his waterfall to show me what it looks like on his end.

I was fascinated by the kind of mentality that goes into the desire to be a "hall monitor". I know there's tons of people out there who feel like it's their "patriotic duty" to tell others what to do and so on and so forth, so I decided to see how far he's willing to go with that. I tracked his call sign down and sent him an email, asking for the screen shot, and he gave it to me almost immediately, along with his phone number offering assistance in figuring out which setting on my radio needed to be adjusted.

Of course I accepted his invitation, dumbfounded by how important this was to him. And we spent an hour together, on the phone, tinkering with settings. Now, this guy is in his '70s . . . which leads me to wonder how he went from walking around naked at Woodstock, high on every drug from A-Z, to. . . this. Regardless, this was a social experiment in an attempt to gain a deeper understanding of radio communists, and in the end, the only thing I learned is that this mentality is deeply, deeply, deeply engrained into their DNA. I would imagine that at Woodstock, he went around correcting people on the proper way to use a bong.

They were born like this, and they will die like this. But in the end, I'll be damned that I'm in the wrong. My bandwidth is a wee too wide, and for that, I will burn in hell and the smoke of my torment will rise for all eternity.

 

[Clyde]

Yeah, I was surprised to have received a card in the mail from an "ARRL official observer", indicating that my data transmission had a bandwidth that was just a little "too wide". The origin was Commiefornia. No shock there. . .

You really have to appreciate what went into this nonsense. He had a special card (about the size of a post card) printed up just for this purpose, and he hand-wrote the information in, took it to the post office, and paid for the postage. He even referenced which FCC regulation governed bandwidth transmission, and offered to provide a screenshot of his waterfall to show me what it looks like on his end.

I was fascinated by the kind of mentality that goes into the desire to be a "hall monitor". I know there's tons of people out there who feel like it's their "patriotic duty" to tell others what to do and so on and so forth, so I decided to see how far he's willing to go with that. I tracked his call sign down and sent him an email, asking for the screen shot, and he gave it to me almost immediately, along with his phone number offering assistance in figuring out which setting on my radio needed to be adjusted.

Of course I accepted his invitation, dumbfounded by how important this was to him. And we spent an hour together, on the phone, tinkering with settings. Now, this guy is in his '70s . . . which leads me to wonder how he went from walking around naked at Woodstock, high on every drug from A-Z, to. . . this. Regardless, this was a social experiment in an attempt to gain a deeper understanding of radio communists, and in the end, the only thing I learned is that this mentality is deeply, deeply, deeply engrained into their DNA. I would imagine that at Woodstock, he went around correcting people on the proper way to use a bong.

They were born like this, and they will die like this. But in the end, I'll be damned that I'm in the wrong. My bandwidth is a wee too wide, and for that, I will burn in hell and the smoke of my torment will rise for all eternity.

I figure since their lives must be miserable so they feel duty bound to make the rest of us miserable. Being from the communist state of kalifornia does not in anyway surprise me.... especially since I live in 6 land..... We have a "nanny" government here so the masses feel they too should be in everyone's Qi (chi). it is most annoying....

 

[user 7000]

Oh, so shunning the rules is cool. He was just letting you know before the Commission did...I got no problem with that.

 

[Silent Earth]

The Control freaks and jobsworths in the Amateur community is why the Pirate radio community is so big and thriving.

 

[DrHenley]

What is a "jobsworth"? Some sort of self important petty bureaucrat?

 

[Silent Earth]

What is a "jobsworth"? Some sort of self important petty bureaucrat?

Yes you meet them in every government agency and office, the by the book guy, the stick to the rules and never use common sense guy, the more than my job is worth guy, the Jobsworth.