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