The infrastructure is paid for by taxes. The fees are a fee for service, which is supposed to just cover the costs associated with the processing. In the case of a ham radio license, I have a hard time believing the costs are going up that much.
FCC NPRM MD Docket No. 20-270 changing FCC fee structure, including Amateur Radio. $50 for new licenses and renewals and Vanity License Applications
- Thread starter n5ims
- Start date
K5MPH
Member
What do you get for 35 dollars,the privilage to use the fcc frequency band plan ......
bearcatrp
Member
One step in putting ham radio's out of personal use! Buch of crap IMHO. This will slow down or stop others looking at getting a ticket!
techman210
Member
If the fee was $0.35, hams would still complain.
Majority of your trunking systems will revert to single site trunking if they lose the master controller or communications to or from the master, or single repeater on each tower , most of your Counties have portable systems and comm vehicles they can deploy to a scene with an ETA of travel time.
By the time the majority of hams would deploy if requested , figure out how to actually program their radio, or screw around with FL digi etc, the incident would be 3/4 over.
We have a Nuclear Power Plant about 2 miles from here, every so often as required by the NRC, the 4 or 5 local counties that surround the PP have disaster drills. Listening to the County comms pass traffic, and listening to the local participating hams pass traffic, the hams are typically 45 minutes to an hour behind passing the SAME materials. If there were to be an Evac sent, I surely wouldnt want to be relying on the amateur network to get my evac notice ..................
sloop
Member
Quit griping...$50 is not that unreasonable. When I first applied for my license in 1971 the cost was $25.00 (that's $161.42 in 2020) just to register for the test and you had to go to a testing center (by appointment) to take the test. If you missed the session you had to wait another 6 months and pay another $25. No publishing of the test questions, you went prepared only with knowledge (and a certain level of code proficiency) , not memorization of the answers. If I could afford to get my license as a 20 year old working my way through college and traveling almost 100 miles to take the test, then I don't see a problem with a $50 fee, answers to the questions in advance, and taking the test locally.
W8WCA
Member
That is all well and good
Except: I am living on the same income I had 25 years ago!
Times are tough
bearcatrp
Member
EXACTLY!!!!!!!!!
Everything goes up except my paycheck and pecker!
Better start saving then. You will need to save 6.7 cents per week.
mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
Or, the cost of two Baofengs.
LOL!!! Yep!
k6cpo
Member
Isn't it about time to end this discussion? The Report and Order has already been issued imposing a $35 application fee.