ARRL/VEC electronic filing
Effective immediately, the ARRL/VEC will electronically file with the FCC Forms 610 for ARRL members. The ARRL/VEC can electronically file FCC Form 610 applications for amateur station license renewals, or for address, name or call sign changes. This service is free to current ARRL members.
ARRL members must send a correctly completed, signed and dated original Form 610 to the ARRL/VEC. Members can send the Form 610 by US mail, by courier, or hand delivery to ARRL/VEC, 225 Main ST, Newington, CT 06111. Applications received by the ARRL/VEC must include an original signature. Forms 610 cannot be accepted via fax. Only applications for renewal made on FCC Form 610 may be electronically submitted by VECs. For now, VECs cannot process computer-generated Forms 610R (which are mailed by the FCC directly to upcoming expirees). Those must go directly to the FCC. Also, VECs cannot presently process FCC Forms 610A, 610B, 610R or 610V. FCC Rules stipulate that renewals be submitted to them no earlier than 90 days before the license expiration date. Licenses that have been expired for less than two years may still be reinstated. A Form 610 for renewal must be submitted to a VEC or FCC before the two-year grace period has ended.
Applications for a systematic call sign change must have Box 4E checked, and the applicant must initial the line adjacent to the box. Applications for an address change must include a current mailing address that is within the United States or its possessions or territories (i.e., where mail can be delivered by the US Postal Service). Applications submitted for a name change must include a copy of a legal document showing the formal name change. The former name must be written on the line next to Box 4C. Typographical errors can be corrected using Form 610. ARRL/VEC can answer questions regarding Form 610 application processing for ARRL members. Call 860-594-0300, weekdays and evenings, from 8 AM to 9 PM Eastern Time.
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FCC to open Gate 2
The FCC has announced that vanity call sign filing Gate 2 will open September 23. Under Gate 2, Amateur Extra class licensees may request a vanity call sign on or after that date. File requests on FCC Form 610V. Legibility is critical. If your application is not legible, you could experience a delay in processing, lose the opportunity to obtain a requested call sign or even obtain a call sign different from what you want.
Under Gate 2, you must hold an unexpired Amateur Extra class operator/primary station license to request a vanity call sign for your primary station. To request a vanity call sign for a club station under Gate 2, you must also hold an unexpired club station license grant listing you as the license trustee. Applicants should refer to the licensee data base to verify that a requested call sign is not already assigned. A call sign is assignable two years following license expiration, surrender, revocation, set aside, cancellation, void ab initio, or death of the grantee.
Using Form 610V, provide a list of up to 25 call signs in the order of preference. The first assignable call sign on the list will be assigned to your station. Remember: When requesting a call sign under Gate 2 for your primary or club station, the call sign must have been unassigned for at least two years. As an Amateur Extra class operator, you may request a call sign from any group, A, B, C or D.
Any call sign requested must be one designated for the region of your mailing address... For explanations of Groups A, B, C and D and the geographic Regions, see Fact Sheet PR5000 Number 206-S, Amateur Station Sequential Call Sign System. For more information, see Fact Sheet PR5000 Number 206-V Amateur Station Vanity Call Sign System.
Advanced, General, Technician Plus, Technician, and Novice class operators are not yet eligible to request by list. Advanced class operators will be eligible at Gate 3. Others will be eligible at Gate 4.
A separate Public Notice will be released providing guidelines for the implementation of electronic filing procedures for FCC Form 610V.
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ARRL Petitions To Change Safety Rules
The ARRL has petitioned the FCC to reconsider and reverse portions of the Commission’s August 1, 1996, Report and Order that imposed RF-emission safety standards on Amateur Radio, including a 50- W threshold to trigger an RF-safety evaluation. In setting the 50-W threshold, the ARRL said, the FCC failed to consider the effect of antenna height, antenna gain, emission mode, duty cycle or operating frequency. The League asked the FCC either to scale the evaluation threshold by frequency to match the maximum permissible exposure (MPE) limits—directly corresponding to the way the regulations scale the exposure levels with frequency—or to set the evaluation threshold for all HF operation at 150 W at a distance of 10 meters from all parts of the antenna.
At or below that power level and at that distance from the radiator, ‘’you’d be well on the side of safe, even at 100 duty cycle, with any antenna likely to be encountered on HF,’’ said ARRL Laboratory Supervisor Ed Hare, KA1CV, our HQ staff liaison to the ARRL RF Safety Committee. ‘’Some VHF/UHF and microwave station configurations could result in an RF exposure exceeding the requirements of the regulations, so the 50-W limit to trigger an evaluation is more appropriate above 30 MHz,’’ said Hare. He emphasized that all stations, regardless of output power or frequency, still must abide by the specified MPE limits for RF.
The new rules, effective January 1, 1997, require licensees of amateur stations running 50 W output or more on any band to conduct a routine RF-safety evaluation to determine if the station could expose people to RF levels that exceed the MPE limits specified in the new rules. (Mobile installations using push-to-talk, regardless of power, are exempt from the environmental evaluation requirement.) In its reconsideration filing, the League called the 50-W threshold ‘’regulatory overkill’’ and ‘’without scientific basis.’’ Among other things, the League said the means to conduct RF radiation evaluations are not yet available, and the ability to reconfigure a station that might exceed the new limits ‘’is highly problematic.’’ Coupled with any state and local land-use and RF-exposure regulations that might exist, application of the new rules ‘’may constitute a de facto revocation or modification of the station license,’’ the League said.
The League also said the FCC adopted the rules ‘’through flawed procedures’’ and without advance notice and opportunity for prior comment. The ARRL said that the new rules differentiate between ham stations and other Commission licensees ‘’which are treated far less restrictively.’’ While the FCC preempted state and local government regulation of personal wireless service facilities based on environmental effects of RF emissions, it refused to do the same for ham radio ‘’without any basis for the distinction.’’ The ARRL already has asked the FCC to extend the deadline to change amateur examinations and modify question pools, but the Commission has yet to act on the request. The League said that, as it now stands, hams have no way to determine the scope of obligations under the new rules.
The League suggested the FCC vacate its new RF safety rules governing amateur stations and issue a further notice to permit comment on the proposed rules, and, in particular, the 50-W evaluation threshold.
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On-line vanity call sign
An electronic version of the Amateur Station Vanity Call Sign Request Form 610V will be available September 23, 1996, on the Internet at the Federal Communications Commission Wireless Telecommunications Bureau home page, http://www.fcc.gov/wtb, under Amateur Radio-Interactive Vanity Call Sign. Detailed filing instructions are available by clicking on the item number on the Internet form.
Electronic payment is not yet available. Applicants must mail a completed FCC Form 159, FCC Remittance Advice, with payment to Federal Communications Commission, Box 358994, Pittsburgh, PA 15259-5994. Note that this is a different Post Office box and ZIP code than for vanity requests and payments using hard-copy forms.
For technical assistance, call the FCC Technical Support Group at 202-414-1250. For general application assistance, call the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, Consumer Assistance staff at 800-322-1117.
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JAS-2 In Orbit
JAS-2, the first Amateur Radio satellite launched in 1996, is in orbit. Early Saturday morning, August 17 (UTC), an H-2 rocket blasted off from Japan’s Tanegashima Island space center carrying the JAS-2 Amateur Radio satellite. The satellite was successfully deployed in orbit 38 minutes later.
JAS-2 is similar to OSCAR 20, although it offers some interesting twists. As soon as testing is completed and the satellite is open for general use (approximately three days), hams will have access to an easy-to-use packet BBS. Unlike most digital satellites which function as file servers and require specialized ground station software, JAS-2 provides a BBS that operates much like a terrestrial system. The only software required is a terminal program to ‘’talk’’ to your TNC. Connecting to the BBS is as simple as sending a connect request to 8J1JCS.
Hams who own PSK TNCs can connect to JAS-2 at 1200 baud. But unlike OSCAR 20, JAS-2 can handle 9600-baud FM FSK as well. A digital voice-storage unit (called the ‘’Digitalker’’) will be used to transmit announcements, bulletins on the condition of the satellite and so on. It’s similar to the unit presently being heard from Mir.
JAS-2 also features a linear transponder for SSB and CW communication. At this time there has been no word from the Japan Amateur Radio League concerning an operating schedule for the transponder Vs the BBS. The satellite has also not yet received its OSCAR designation.
Congratulations to JARL and JAMSAT on the successful launch of JAS-2. And many thanks to Kazu Sakamoto, JJ1WTK, and Fujio Yamashita, JS1UKR, for keeping ARRL HQ informed throughout the project.
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UNAMSAT-B in Orbit
UNAMSAT-B, the first Mexican Amateur Radio satellite, has been launched into orbit from Plesetsk, Russia. The successful launch on September 5, 1996, follows years of postponements and disappointments, including the destruction of UNAMSAT-1. The satellite was built at the Autonomous University of Mexico under the tutelage of David Liberman, XE1TU.
UNAMSAT-B functions as a 1200-baud store-and-forward packet file server similar to Oscars 16 and 19. Uplinks: 145.815, 145.835, 145.855 and 145.875 MHz; downlink: 437.206 MHz.
In addition to its packet capability, UNAMSAT carries a meteor experiment. The satellite will transmit pulses on 40.997 MHz to detect the presence of meteors entering Earth’s atmosphere. By analyzing the data files, which will be made available on the server, hams can get a glimpse of meteor activity over various parts of the globe at specific times.
Reports indicate the satellite is sending strong signals back to Earth. AMSAT says a first look at telemetry from UNAMSAT indicates all is working well aboard the satellite. It is tumbling, as expected, so signal strength and polarization sense are changing randomly. It should lock in on Earth’s magnetic field in a few days, and that will stabilize the downlink signals. The transmitter is running at a ‘’safe’’ power level of about 0.2 to 0.3 W.
AMSAT said that observers should expect the satellite to remain it its current mode for several days as the UNAM team returns to Mexico City and works through the checkout and test procedures. Observers are requested to collect telemetry in KISS mode and send files attached to e-mail to wd0eamsat.org for the next 48 hours. Congratulations to the UNAMSAT team at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. For more information, see their Web page at http://serpiente.dgsca.unam.mx/unamsat/unameng.htm.
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