Thanks for sending this along, Lou.
I'll forward it onto the hams on my local area hams e-mail list.
Tom Behler: KB8TYJ
-----Original Message-----
From: For blind ham radio operators [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Lou Kolb
Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2015 10:15 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Fw: ARLB004 FCC "Paperless" Amateur Radio License Policy Goes into
Effect on February 17
Some may find this interesting and/or useful. 73. Lou WA3MIX Lou Kolb
Voice-over Artist:
Radio/TV Ads, Video narrations
Messages On-hold:
www.loukolb.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "ARRL Web site" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2015 10:08 AM
Subject: ARLB004 FCC "Paperless" Amateur Radio License Policy Goes into
Effect on February 17
> SB QST @ ARL $ARLB004
> ARLB004 FCC "Paperless" Amateur Radio License Policy Goes into Effect
> on February 17
>
> ZCZC AG04
> QST de W1AW
> ARRL Bulletin 4 ARLB004
> From ARRL Headquarters
> Newington CT January 29, 2015
> To all radio amateurs
>
> SB QST ARL ARLB004
> ARLB004 FCC "Paperless" Amateur Radio License Policy Goes into Effect
> on February 17
>
> Starting February 17, the FCC no longer will routinely issue paper
> license documents to Amateur Radio applicants and licensees. The
> Commission has maintained for some time now that the official Amateur
> Radio license authorization is the electronic record that exists in
> its Universal Licensing System (ULS), although the FCC has continued
> to print and mail hard copy licenses. In mid-December the FCC adopted
> final procedures to provide access to official electronic
> authorizations, as it had proposed in WT Docket 14-161 as part of its
> "process reform" initiatives.
>
> Under the new procedures, licensees will access their current official
> authorization ("Active" status only) via the ULS License Manager. The
> FCC will continue to provide paper license documents to all licensees
> who notify the Commission that they prefer to receive one. Licensees
> also will be able to print out an official authorization - as well as
> an unofficial "reference copy" - from the ULS License Manager.
>
> "We find this electronic process will improve efficiency by
> simplifying access to official authorizations in ULS, shortening the
> time period between grant of an application and access to the official
> authorization, and reducing regulatory costs," the FCC Wireless
> Telecommunications Bureau (WTB) said. According to the WTB, the new
> procedures will save at least $304,000 a year, including the cost of
> staff resources.
>
> In comments filed November 5, the ARRL had strongly recommended that
> the FCC "give serious consideration to continuing a default provision
> for sending an initial paper license document to new licensees in the
> Amateur Radio Service, along with detailed, simple instructions for
> how to make the elections set forth in the notice relative to future
> modified or renewed licenses."
>
> The FCC said that applicants or licensees who include a valid e-mail
> address under "Applicant Information" in the ULS will receive an
> official electronic authorization via e-mail. New license applicants
> who do not provide a FCC Registration Number at the examination point
> will receive a printed license as well as an FRN and a temporary
> password to access the Commission Registration System (CORES).
>
> The ARRL and other Amateur Radio commenters also worried that unless a
> license document is printed on distinctive paper stock, its
> authenticity could be questioned in such situations as obtaining
> vanity call sign license plates. To address this, the FCC said the
> watermark "Official Copy" will be printed on each page of an official
> authorization that a licensee prints out from the ULS. The WTB
> recently stopped using distinctive paper stock to produce hard copy
> licenses and has been printing these on "standard, white recycled
> paper." The Bureau noted that the distinctive paper stock it had used
> was six times more expensive than the plain recycled paper it now
> uses.
>
> The ULS License Manager now includes settings that allow licensees to
> notify the WTB that they prefer to receive official authorizations on
> paper. Once the final procedures go into effect designating electronic
> access as the default, licensees can change the ULS License Manager
> setting so that the Bureau will print and mail a license document.
> Licensees also may contact FCC Support via the web at,
> http://esupport.fcc.gov/index.htm?job=contact_fcc_support , or via
> telephone or mail to request paper licenses.
>
> The FCC rejected as "outside the scope of this proceeding" an ARRL
> argument that Section 97.23 of the Amateur Service rules be amended to
> replace "licensee mailing address" with other alternatives, including
> e-mail, for use in Commission correspondence. The rule, which requires
> that any licensee mailing address be in an area where the licensee has
> US Postal Service access, has precluded FCC issuance of
> location-specific call signs in such areas as Navassa Island (KP1) and
> some Pacific islands.
> NNNN
> /EX
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