This disruptive event in 1977 resulted in the termination of all
informal FCC processes for issuing callsigns. The new rules
implemented in 1978 required than all amateur callsigns must
be issued only by the "systematic" processes specified in the rules.
73
Frank
W3LPL
Thursday, Oct. 6, 1977
FCC probes illegal award of ham radio call letters
New York Times News Service
WASHINGTON
The Federal Communications Commission is starting an investigation
into how some amateur radio operators including possibly one of the
FCC's own high-ranking officials may have improperly acquired special
call letters for their ham radio stations. The commission official
Charles A. Higginbotham, chief of the FCC's Safety and Special Radio
Services Bureau which has jurisdiction over amateur licensing
conceded this week that he had sought and been issued a call sign
bearing his initials, a privilege never accorded to individual amateur
licensees. Most call signs are in the order in which applications are
received. The investigation which will include the Higgin-botham matter
results from the conviction last summer of Richard Ziegler, a long-time
commission employee who was in charge of issuing amateur licenses
at the commission's facility in Gettysburg, Pa. Ziegler was convicted of
accepting bribes of $100 apiece for issuing special call signs to two
amateurs although he was charged with accepting four such payments.
Special call signs are issued only to amateurs who have attained the
highest grade of license the extra class which requires the applicant
to pass a high-speed international Morse code test and an examination
in electronics said to be as difficult as tests for operators of commercial
broadcast stations. At least one of the four and perhaps others were
actually entitled to the special call signs. One amateur, reached in
Columbus, Ohio, said that after he took his examination for the Extra
Class, it took about four months just to receive a license. To reserve a
set of call letters, he sent $100 and a choice of five calls signs to Ziegler
and received what turned out to be his fifth choice. He and two of the
other amateurs involved have since turned in their special call signs
and have received their older less-desirable call signs.
The call letters involved are much like low-number license plates and
have little more than prestige value, although some call signs are
easier to send in Morse code than others and may be distinctive
enough to be easily remembered. In the early years of ham radio,
amateurs were given call signs comprising the U.S. prefix (a W or
a K) followed by a number to designate the geographical area in
which they live (D.C., Maryland, Pennsylvania and Delaware are
the third call area) followed by two letters supposed to be chosen at
random (such as W4AB, for an amateur in Virginia). As the number
of amateurs increased, the call letters comprised the W or K, the
number and three letters. When those were exhausted, the FCC
began issuing WA, WB and on down the alphabet, so a new amateur
might receive a call sign such as WB4ABC. It is considered more
prestigious to have a call sign such as W4AB or W4ABC.
According to FCC and court records, Ziegler was convicted on two counts.
The two amateurs involved were John C. Gallucci of Columbus, Ohio,
who received the call letters K8MM (instead of an earlier-issued WB8AKU)
and Richard T. Bennett of Reynoldsburg, Ohio, who received K8KF, and
had initially held K8EHI. Ziegler had been indicted on two other counts
as well. One involved Dr. John R. Shelter of Groveport, Ohio, who was
assigned K8RZ (rather than his original call of WA8ZDF) and Terry L.
Dillahunty, Columbus, Ohio, K8RS, which was issued to substitute for his
earlier WB8RWU.
David Queen, assistant U.S. Attorney in Harrisburg, Pa. who prosecuted
the case, said Ziegler had been sentenced to two years. He said that,
although the amateurs may have been entitled to the call signs, it is still
unlawful for Ziegler to have accepted payment for any public duty. The
investigation that led to Ziegler's conviction was begun after complaints
by some amateurs that some hams were being issued licenses without
taking the required examinations. So far the FCC has found no evidence
of this.
FCC records show Higginbotham received a license in 1975 with his
initials as call letters, W3CAH. A "W" call sign would not normally be
issued to a new amateur, who more likely would receive a less desirable
WB or WC. Further, since Higginbotham held only an advanced class
license he was not entitled to a choice of call letters. The records also
show that last December Higginbotham gave up his initial call sign and
accepted a more pedestrian, WB3DLT. Higginbotham told a reporter
Tuesday that his old initial call sign had "turned out to be one of those
things that was, I guess, not too wise. The call sign, I thought, was
going to give me some visibility with the amateur community, and I
had a couple of complaints about it so I changed it." Higginbotham
who was not involved in payoffs to Ziegler said that because he has
authority to issue amateur licenses himself, he simply called somebody
in Gettysburg, where licenses are issued, and ordered up the set of
call letters. The complaints against Higginbotham using his influence
to obtain a special call sign apparently first surfaced shortly after he
received his license, when he appeared at an amateur radio convention
in Reston, Va., in 1975.
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