Thanks for the info, Fred.

Personally, I would love to grab the call sign K 9 D O G someday, if it ever 
becomes available!


Just my slightly twisted sense of humor, I guess!  (smile)

73 from Tom Behler:  KB8TYJ

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Fred Adams" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, August 12, 2011 8:51 AM
Subject: FW: ARLB019 Vanity Call Sign Fee to Go Up in September


> Subject: ARLB019 Vanity Call Sign Fee to Go Up in September
>
> SB QST @ ARL $ARLB019
> ARLB019 Vanity Call Sign Fee to Go Up in September
>
> ZCZC AG19
> QST de W1AW
> ARRL Bulletin 19  ARLB019
> From ARRL Headquarters
> Newington CT  August 11, 2011
> To all radio amateurs
>
> SB QST ARL ARLB019
> ARLB019 Vanity Call Sign Fee to Go Up in September
>
> On August 10, the FCC announced via a Final Rule in the Federal
> Register that the cost of an Amateur Radio vanity call sign will
> increase 90 cents, from $13.30 to $14.20.  The new fees take
> effect 30 days after publication, making September 9, 2011, the
> first day the new fee is in effect.  Earlier this year, the FCC
> released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Order (NPRM), seeking
> to raise the fee for Amateur Radio vanity call signs.
>
> "The Commission tries to keep the regulatory fee for Vanity call
> signs as minimal as possible," explained the FCC in its Final Rule.
> "Between FY 2007 and FY 2010, the regulatory fee for Vanity call
> signs increased from $1.17 per year to $1.33 per year, an increase
> of $0.16 per year or $1.60 over a ten-year license period.  We do
> not believe this increase is inequitable, and the Commission will
> continue its efforts to keep this fee as minimal as possible.  The
> fees that are collected from Vanity call signs are used to offset
> the cost of monitoring and researching new call sign requests to
> prevent the issuance of duplicate call signs."
>
> The vanity call sign fee has fluctuated over the 14 years of the
> current program -- from a low of $11.70 in 2007 to a high of $70 as
> first proposed in the FCC's 1994 Report and Order.  In FY 2011, the
> FCC expects to grant 14,600 vanity call signs, bringing in $207,320
> from the vanity call sign program, and looks to recover a total of
> $336,599,048 in fees from all the Services that it regulates.
>
> The vanity call sign regulatory fee is payable not only when
> applying for a new vanity call sign, but also upon renewing a vanity
> call sign for a new term.  The first vanity call sign licenses
> issued under the current Amateur Radio vanity call sign program that
> began in 1996 came up for renewal five years ago.  The FCC is
> authorized by the Communications Act of 1934, As Amended, to collect
> vanity call sign fees to recover the costs associated with that
> program.
>