[SCCC] N6MI on vanity call signs

[Wayne Overbeck]

Ray:  the good thing about "no-code" extras is that, although 
they have access to the prime cw sub-bands, they never use 
that privilege.  The fact that an extra class license requires 
only a written test (albeit a fairly rigorous one, in my view) means 
that we have a lot more extras than ever before--and not enough 
call signs for them.  

But not every extra licensee even wants a 1x2.  Anecdote:  my 
partner Carrie, W6TAI, has her surname as her vanity call.  
The 1x2 of an old friend, now deceased, became available 
and was not snapped up on the first two days of availability.  
I tried to get Carrie to apply, but she declined, preferring her 
surname 1x3.

I will offer my own call sign grievance:  the DMV does not seem 
to have a mechanism to reclaim call signs as car licenses when 
the holder is deceased and the call sign is assigned to someone 
else by the FCC.  The family of the man who held W6TAI from the 
1930s until his passing about a decade ago seems to have 
renewed the "W6TAI" license plate, perhaps as a family heirloom.  
Carrie was refused call sign plates by the DMV, despite offering 
proof of a valid extra class license with W6TAI as her call.  She had 
to pay for a vanity license plate with a variation of her call to get 
anything like call sign plates from the DMV.  

If the rationale for having call sign license plates is to facilitate 
identification of licensed hams in an emcomm situation, issuing 
plates bearing ham calls to non-hams seems wrong.

73, Wayne, N6NB

--------------------------------------------
On Fri, 10/28/16, Ray Benny <rayn6vr at cableone.net> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [SCCC] N6MI on vanity call signs
 To: "J. Scott Bovitz" <bovitz at bovitz.com>
 Cc: sccc at contesting.com
 Date: Friday, October 28, 2016, 11:24 AM
 
 
 What I
 don't like is that there are many, many non US citizens
 that hold extra class 1x2s and 2X1 callsigns and have never
 used them. When I applied for a Club callsign years ago, I
 did not choose either but instead a 2X2 just so they would
 be available for others. Now even 2x2s are scarce.
 
 I don't know the current
 rules on issuing of 1x2s and 2x1s callsigns to non US
 citizens, but there should be some kind of proof that it is
 needed before it is renewed.
 
 A thought from an old fart, a local friend went
 from general to extra class in 6 months, great for him, but
 never had to take any code test. Now he has access to the
 restricted CW portions of the bands but doesn't know CW.
 So much for the original purpose of incentive
 licensing...
 
 My 2 cents.
 
 Ray,
 N6VR
 
 ----- Original Message
 -----
 From: J. Scott Bovitz <bovitz at bovitz.com>
 To: sccc at contesting.com
 Sent: Fri, 28 Oct 2016 13:32:15 -0400 (EDT)
 Subject: [SCCC] N6MI on vanity call signs
 
 Dear SCCC:
 
 
 The whole vanity call sign issue is "a
 tempest in a teapot."
  
 You can fight over my call sign when I'm
 dead. (I just hope that day does
 not come
 too soon.)
  
 73,
  
 J. Scott Bovitz
 N6MI
  
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 -- 
 Ray,
 N6VR
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