Some excerpts from the ARRL Letter (full text at http://www.arrl.org):
The ARRL Letter
Electronic Update
October 25, 1996
__________________________________
IN THIS UPDATE:
* Gate 2 Vanity Call Sign Grants: Any Day Now!
* FCC Stops Renewal Reminders
* ARRL Board in Session
* ARRL Letter Circulation
* Marconi Museum to Open in New Hampshire
* Boys & Girls Clubs to Embrace Ham Radio
* John "Bob" Vota, WB1FDY, SK
* In Brief: More astronaut hams; KE6HCI honored;
New FCC Web searcher; More Alexanderson info;
Welcome aboard!; No cat
__________________________________
GATE 2 VANITY CALL SIGN GRANTS: ANY DAY NOW!
The FCC is holding to its schedule that first-day vanity call sign Gate 2
applications could be processed as early as today. As of October 11, the FCC
had received more than 6400 applications in response to Gate 2, which opened
just over a month ago. Personnel in the FCC's Gettysburg, Pennsylvania,
office have been entering application information and lists of requested
call signs since then. Slightly more than 4500 applications were filed on
opening day, and the FCC has said it will consider all day-one applications
as a group and grant licenses in random order.
If the FCC is unable to grant a requested call sign, it will dismiss the
application and notify the applicant by mail. Applicants may reapply, but
hams whose applications are dismissed must request a refund of the $30
processing fee in writing and under separate cover.
FCC STOPS RENEWAL REMINDERS
As of October 22, the FCC has ceased issuing Form 610R license expiration
notices--reminders to hams that their tickets are going to expire within the
next 90 days and that they must request renewal. The last notices sent by
FCC covered into February 1997, although the specific date was not
available. A Form 610R for renewal must be returned by mail only to the FCC.
An FCC Public Notice is expected within a few days.
The demise of the Form 610R means that hams--whose licenses are issued for
ten-year periods--must take the initiative to remember the renewal date of
their tickets and file a Form 610. An FCC spokesman in Gettysburg says the
Commission hopes to have a Form 610 available soon on the World Wide Web to
permit on-line renewals.
In Brief:
* New FCC Web searcher: The FCC has installed a new search engine for use on
its World Wide Web site at http://www.fcc.gov. It supports both concept and
keyword searches to help Web users find FCC documents quickly and easily.
The search utility also supports Boolean operators (and, not, or, etc.).
Details on how to use the new search tool are located on the search page,
http://www.fcc.gov/search.--FCC
* No cat: When asked to describe radio, Albert Einstein is said to have
provided an eloquent description: "You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a
very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head meows in Los
Angeles. Do you understand this?" Einstein then continued: "Radio operates
exactly the same way---you send signals here, they receive them there. The
only difference is that there is no cat."
The ARRL Letter is published by the American Radio Relay League, 225 Main
St, Newington, CT 06111; tel 860-594-0200; fax 860-594-0259. Rodney J.
Stafford, KB6ZV, President; David Sumner, K1ZZ, Executive Vice President.
Material from The ARRL Letter may be reproduced in whole or in part, in any
form, including photoreproduction and electronic databanks, provided that
credit is given to The ARRL Letter and The American Radio Relay League.
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E-mail: frenaye@pcnet.com Internet: http://www.akorn.net/k1ki
Tom Frenaye, K1KI, P O Box 386, West Suffield CT 06093 Phone: 860-668-5444
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