Amateur radio licensees would pay a $50 fee for each amateur radio license application if the FCC adopts rules it proposed this week. Included in the FCC’s fee proposal are applications for new licenses, renewal and upgrades to existing licenses, and vanity call sign requests. Excluded are applications for administrative updates, such as changes of address, and annual regulatory fees. [...] Deadlines for comments and reply comments will be determined once the NPRM appears in the Federal Register. Interested parties may file comments by using the FCC’s Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS), posting to MD Docket No. 20-270. This docket is already open to accept comments, even though deadlines have not yet been set.
I entered a public comment:
The FCC should not raise the amateur radio application fee from $15 to $50. On page 9 of FCC it states that “personal licenses are mostly automated and do not have individualized staff costs for data input or review (pg. 9)”. Since the ULS is mostly automated, what reason is there to justify a 233% price increase for ham radio applications? The budget of the FCC has grown consistently since 1993 which only adds to the confusion as to why this price increase is required. I personally feel this is nothing more than a money grab by the FCC.
Amateur radio provides a valuable service to the public. Radio plays a key role in disaster recovery efforts for every major disaster in the United States and around the world. This service is provided by volunteer radio operators who have spent years studying and training for such events. The increase from $15 to $50 will make it more expensive for new people to enter an already expensive hobby. We need more radio operators, not fewer. I strongly encourage the FCC to reconsider this fee proposal. Thank you for taking the time to read my public comment.
Jade Shain / KG7WBW
Correction:
KU4X correctly pointed out that the base price is not $15 but actually $0! Some VECs charge $15 (mine did) and that is where the confusion came from.
