Please Support RM-11835

I’ve petition the FCC for a rule making change that would give residential preference to amateur radio operators applying for vanity callsigns that reside within the district of the callsign only when applications are in competition with others.

I don’t think it’s fair to see callsign applications that are in competition to be awarded to operators who reside outside the district of the callsign when there are operators who are also applying for that live within. They should have preference. If there are no competing applications for a callsign then it’s up for grabs by anyone. I am on requesting residential preference on ONLY competing applications, nothing else.

This mostly applies to callsigns in the 1X2 or 2X1 format (N1AB or NA1B for example) as they are very difficult to obtain. There is usually at least a half dozen applications for a short call the day it becomes available. When the FCC dropped the fees associated with vanity applications, the difficulty increased.

Background

When I’ve obtained my extra class license, I wanted to get a shorter callsign to replace N1BMX. I often do contesting and felt it would be nice to have something shorter in CW. This meant I would be going after a callsign either in the 1X2 or 2X1 format (N1AB or NA1B for example). I’ve noticed there are not many of these short callsigns available anymore. When one becomes available, many people apply for it on the same day. If you are not aware, when multiple people apply for the call, it goes into a lottery situation where the FCC randomly picks one of the applications and grants the call. Even if you applied at 12:01am, it doesn’t matter.

I applied for K1HF when it came available and lost out to someone in Maine. I didn’t win the lottery which is fine. Then N1DE came up and I lost out to someone in California. I wasn’t fine with that . Then I noticed many of my peers loosing out on competing applications to operators who reside outside the district of the call they were applying for. I didn’t think this was fair.

I understand that the FCC has dropped residency requirements and I still support that. Your callsign is part of your identity. It’s who you are when you are on the air and sometimes you are only known by your call. I still believe that you move, you should be able to retain your callsign. Even though the FCC has dropped that requirement, they still issue call signs by district. When operators travel, they attach an identifier telling which district they are in (NT1K/6 for example).

If I hear US station with a 6 in their callsign, I am going to believe they are in California. Same with hearing a KH6 or a KL thinking they are in Hawaii or Alaska (BTW, those calls are restricted to those who reside in Hawaii, Alaska and other islands).

Please Support

Instead of complaining, I decided to do something about it. Back in September of 2018 I submitted a rulemaking petition that for the most part, sat in their inbox. I didn’t think anything was going to come of it until I saw an ARRL article where it was mentioned. The FCC accepted it and assigned a rulemaking docket number 11835 (RM-11835).

I ask that if you support, please submit a comment to the FCC. Even if you don’t support it, submit a comment to the FCC anyways. You can add an express comment by visiting the following website

https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/filings/express

In the Proceedings box type RM-11835, fill out the rest of the form and add your comment.

There is also a similar petition (RM-11834) asking for residency preference on ALL vanity applications. The difference between mine is that I am only asking preference on competing applications. I was not aware of this petition and didn’t see it in the FCC’s ECFS system.

Thank you,
Jeffrey Bail (NT1K)