[UK-CONTEST] Vanity calls- revisited

[Colin]

Clive,

I attach an extract of the Ofcom/RSGB minutes from the May 8th meeting -


> The chairman recalled that there had been a meeting with himself, 
> Colin Thomas and Rod Wilkinson at which an agreed way forward had been 
> discussed. Although at the last Forum meeting a target had been set 
> for the introduction of personalised call signs to be implemented in 
> May 2008, this had run into difficulties as the whole issue of call 
> signs in general needed to be addressed in view of comments by the 
> legal team. With the meeting’s agreement the Chairman widened this 
> agenda item to include item 12(a) (Olympics call signs).
>
> The Chairman stated that the initial view of the legal team was that 
> there needed to be spectrum management reasons if the issuing of call 
> signs were to be limited, that such limitations should be 
> non-discriminatory and that such granting should accord with our 
> international obligations.
>
> The issue of call signs for London 2012(Olympics), Special Events had 
> also been raised by the legal team in addition to the criteria 
> required for stipulating a function as a special, special-special or 
> permanent special event.
>
> The Chairman presented a discussion paper (although not circulated) 
> which was drafted by Rod Wilkinson and modified taking into account 
> initial views of the legal team w.r.t. addressing the issuing of call 
> signs for London 2012. In essence, the paper proposed that the 
> criteria for a station to use the logo in the call sign would need to 
> be determined by London 2012 and on approval by LOCOG, an NoV would be 
> issued by Ofcom. The chairman emphasised that these were initial 
> thoughts but that there would be an internal meeting with the legal 
> team prior to consideration of substantive proposals.
>
>
> *Action 8.1 (May 08) – *Paul Fonseka to arrange an internal meeting 
> with the legal team to examine the question of the issuing of London 
> 2012 and all NoV related Amateur call signs
You will see that the Ofcom legal department are looking for work and 
are now involved. Hopefully the results of their internal discussions 
will be revealed at the next meeting scheduled for mid September. The 
whole crux of this discussion hinged around the possibility that the 
issuing of personalised (vanity) callsigns to Full licensees only might 
be discriminatory to less qualified licensees!!! This might have 
something to do with the fact that Ofcom have recently appointed a new 
equal opportunities guru.

You will also see that a mountain of paperwork is being generated on the 
topic of London 2012 callsigns.

73

Colin, G3PSM


Clive Whelan wrote:
> (snipped)
>
> We all know, I think, that bureaucrats will always stand in the way of 
> progress, if for no other reason than that they seek an easy life, and I 
> feel sure that this is also the case in Ofcom. Whilst I sympathise with 
> those in RSGB who have to deal with these faceless people, it is i.m.o. 
> their responsibility  to maintain the pressure upon them  to  achieve 
> our reasonable aspirations. Vanity calls is one small part of these 
> aspirations of course.
>
>
>