I don’t know about you, but I saw no purpose in this petition, especially since renewing a license is now free and very easy to do online…..Dan
SB QST @ ARL $ARLB021
ARLB021 FCC Says “No” to Lifetime Amateur Radio Licenses
ZCZC AG21
QST de W1AW
ARRL Bulletin 21 ARLB021
From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT June 24, 2016
To all radio amateurs
SB QST ARL ARLB021
ARLB021 FCC Says “No” to Lifetime Amateur Radio Licenses
The FCC has denied the petition of an Arizona radio amateur, who had petitioned for lifetime Amateur Radio licenses. Mark F. Krotz, N7MK, of Mesa, had filed his Petition for Rule Making (RM 11760) with the FCC last November, and the FCC invited public comments in February. Krotz wanted the FCC to revise Part 97.25 of its rules to indicate that Amateur Radio licenses are granted for the holder’s lifetime, instead of for the current 10-year term. Hundreds of radio amateurs commented on the petition, but the FCC was not swayed by those favoring the idea.
“Based on our review of the record, we are not persuaded that the petition discloses sufficient grounds for the requested rule change,” the FCC said in a June 21 Order. “Krotz’s primary argument is that extending the term of amateur licenses to the lifetime of the holder would reduce the Commission’s administrative and personnel costs, but it is not clear to us that the proposal actually would enhance administrative efficiency.” That’s because the vast majority of license renewals are submitted online and processed automatically by the Universal Licensing System (ULS), “with minimal staff involvement,” the Order said.
The FCC said it had further reduced its overhead by no longer routinely mailing out paper licenses. “[I]f license terms were extended to the holder’s lifetime, we likely would receive more cancellations on account of the licensee’s death, which are labor-intensive, because staff must carefully verify the deceased’s identity and licenses in order to guard against erroneous cancellations,” the FCC said in its Order, signed by Wireless Telecommunications Bureau Deputy Mobility Division Chief Scot Stone.
Krotz argued that the General Radiotelephone Operator License (GROL) already is issued on a lifetime basis, but the FCC said that’s not a comparable situation, because an Amateur Radio license is both an operator’s license and a station license, “and there is no Commission precedent for issuing a lifetime station license.”
In 2014 the FCC granted lifetime credit for examination elements 3 and 4, but applicants seeking relicensing under that provision still must pass examination element 2. The FCC pointed out in its Order that this was done to address the concerns of commenters that a licensee who had not renewed also may not have maintained or expanded his or her knowledge and skills.
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/EX
Dave New, N8SBE says
It’s kind of interesting that one of the reasons they gave was, “if somebody dies, we have no way to purge the system if the license never expires”. If that’s the case, then you’d think the FCC would want a much shorter term, so they can keep their files clean.
Dan KB6NU says
Since there’s no charge for the license, and it’s so easy to renew online, I don’t see any reason not to issue licenses for a shorter term. Why not roll it back to five years?
Walter Underwood K6WRU says
Cutting the license term in half would double the paperwork for the FCC. That would raise costs.
Dan KB6NU says
I don’t think it does, really. I just renewed my license online. I rather doubt that anyone at the FCC even knew that I’d done so, much less processed any paperwork.
Bob, KG6AF says
As the Order explained, the FCC rejected the argument that lifetime licenses enhanced commission efficiency, because there’s really no paperwork to speak of when renewing a license online.