What's the deal w/ FCC's website?
- Thread starter devolic
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K7MEM
Member
Yea, I renewed my license in 2020 and it only took about 10 minutes. But that was when the renewal was free. Now there is a $35 fee. So, the renewal is easy, but paying for it is difficult. The FCC still has not worked out the pay part of the renewal. Here is a link to How to Renew Your Amateur Radio License. It is very detailed but pretty complete. I hope that by 2030, when I have to renew, that they will have worked out the bugs.
ecps92
Member
Try a different browser, years ago, I found only IE worked well, but my last renewal Chrome worked best
For several yeas now the FCC has been getting worse, it has often been discussed especially regarding searches of the FCC database. It either times out or is totally down. You just need to catch it on a good day. I used to do a weekly email of license grants for my state but had to stop because the data wasn't available for days at a time on the website.
belvdr
No longer interested in living
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I renewed mine online at the end of 2022, and paid, without issue. Granted, it wasn't as straightforward as one would hope, but it worked.
The fact that they have to write an article on how to renew an amateur license SPEAKS VOLUMES! what do they do with the money now that they collect? Definitely none towards the website, or people maintaining it! I've tried different browsers all week. I never have problems getting anywhere, but all this is is a problem. what if they charge twice or more cause of someone's ****ty coding, how to prove since its government. Can think of other things also.
belvdr
No longer interested in living
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They (the FCC) didn't write an article; a 3rd party did. I renewed mine just by logging in and following the prompts.
While I'm no fan of the FCC website, yesterday 388 people were able to get their ham tickets punched. A little patience and persistence helps.
I've noticed, too, it's degraded in speed and reliability. I've tried different browsers (Chrome, Edge and Firefox) and accessing through different computers (work, cell and home) doesn't seem to make a difference--it still sucks.
k6cpo
Member
"What's the deal w/ FCC's website?"
There's one simple answer, totally unrelated to amateur radio. It's a website designed and maintained by an agency of the Federal Government. Have you sever seen anything the federal government touches that doesn't turn to crap?
There's one simple answer, totally unrelated to amateur radio. It's a website designed and maintained by an agency of the Federal Government. Have you sever seen anything the federal government touches that doesn't turn to crap?
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Well ! This all makes me feel much better. I renewed my license shortly after the introduction of fees.
The whole process was a muck... and now just what I did to accomplish the renewal is a blurr. I remember I had to change my password to one of "12 characters or more"--- only the site kept rejecting everything of 12 characters I submitted.
Bugger This !!
So I tried 13 characters and the 'Blessed"! thing loved me
.
.......go figure.
Every thing then was going just ducky--- until it came time to pay for this song and dance.
If I remember correctly, I had to go to another site; one with a bunch of gibberish and no 'hot button' or anything to take my credit card.
Or at least that is what I saw.
Exasperated, I asked my niece for help.
(I realized long ago that a younger generation just has an innate sense for this sort of computer stuff )
"oh Auntie L, look down in the right hand corner of the screen"
"see those little blue words...... "Pay"? **
See them ? ! they looked about like this
Pay here
"You miserable Government XYZ's !!"
The rest is truly a blurr. I somehow renewed my license-- I guessed. I got a receipt for my payment- but I couldn't quite believe it. I had to see it on the license search page --- and printed out a hard copy.
I wonder what they will have in store for me in 10 years------------- if I am still around !
Lauri
** If she didn't speak those exact words it was still how they recall in my memory. Change my niece's inflection to that of Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz....
"Oh, Auntie Emm ....."
.
The whole process was a muck... and now just what I did to accomplish the renewal is a blurr. I remember I had to change my password to one of "12 characters or more"--- only the site kept rejecting everything of 12 characters I submitted.
Bugger This !!
So I tried 13 characters and the 'Blessed"! thing loved me
........go figure.
Every thing then was going just ducky--- until it came time to pay for this song and dance.
If I remember correctly, I had to go to another site; one with a bunch of gibberish and no 'hot button' or anything to take my credit card.
Or at least that is what I saw.
Exasperated, I asked my niece for help.
(I realized long ago that a younger generation just has an innate sense for this sort of computer stuff )
"oh Auntie L, look down in the right hand corner of the screen"
"see those little blue words...... "Pay"? **
See them ? ! they looked about like this
Pay here
"You miserable Government XYZ's !!"
The rest is truly a blurr. I somehow renewed my license-- I guessed. I got a receipt for my payment- but I couldn't quite believe it. I had to see it on the license search page --- and printed out a hard copy.
I wonder what they will have in store for me in 10 years------------- if I am still around !
Lauri
** If she didn't speak those exact words it was still how they recall in my memory. Change my niece's inflection to that of Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz....
"Oh, Auntie Emm ....."
.
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Totally related to ham dude. You cant even renew a license anymore for **** sake! their site is chit. How do you expect this to continue
mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
It must be the coal fired plant that feeds high pressure steam to their 1932 era routers and servers. Someone might have let the boilers go cold and lighting them off again takes time.
To be fair, the FCC has a big database. But so do a lot of other resources on the web. The performance of the FCC website has been horrible for a long time, as in unreliable. It's been that way for years. Nothing new. They obviously do not care.
But, they are the only game in town. Which usually leads to the "do not care" attitude.
In other words, welcome to the club. Might as well sit down and relax until the FCC boiler room builds up a head of steam again.
mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
To be fair (well, not really…) a lot of IT organizations act like this.
"Here is our service, don't like it? Tough. Go get it somewhere else. Oh, we are the only option? well, I guess you have to deal with it."
I had a mortgage company a few years back based out of the East coast. Their IT guys had a notice on their website that said something to the effect of "our website will be down for maintenance each day from 10pm to 2am Eastern time"
Do the math. That's prime bill paying time on the West coast. I'd always have problems trying to get on their website at the right time so I could pay. Complaints to their 800 number were essentially ignored.
"Here is our service, don't like it? Tough. Go get it somewhere else. Oh, we are the only option? well, I guess you have to deal with it."
I had a mortgage company a few years back based out of the East coast. Their IT guys had a notice on their website that said something to the effect of "our website will be down for maintenance each day from 10pm to 2am Eastern time"
Do the math. That's prime bill paying time on the West coast. I'd always have problems trying to get on their website at the right time so I could pay. Complaints to their 800 number were essentially ignored.
That and coupled with the rumor that the FCC databases, along with IRS, SS, & and other agencies are on shared mainframes. And with tax return processing this time of the year, it may be more sluggish than normal. Also they had problems finding COBOL programmers in prep. of Y2K so the problem is not going to get better in the foreseeable future. Thank God for the invention of tubes and transistors so no more relays.
the website isn't just for hams to renew. I do public safety renewals monthly. While I hear hams complain all the time I've only had one issue in 2 years with a friends license. Ended up being he used the wrong FRN. A simple call and they fixed it. Yup system is old and quirky but its still used daily by radio folks.
DeoVindice
P25 Underground
And the hamster-wheel backup power scheme didn't work out either.
I attempted to apply for a "new" GMRS license yesterday. After doing all the preliminary forms, which included my email address, which was accepted. When it came to filling out the actual license application I was able to get right to the bottom of the form. It asked for my email address again, but it would not accept it. It kept saying my email address was not valid and to renter it as it was mandatory. I double checked previous entries on earlier forms to see if I made an error, but it was accurate. Going back to the license application it continued to tell me my email address was not valid. I gave up.
I attempted to apply for a "new" GMRS license yesterday. After doing all the preliminary forms, which included my email address, which was accepted. When it came to filling out the actual license application I was able to get right to the bottom of the form. It asked for my email address again, but it would not accept it. It kept saying my email address was not valid and to renter it as it was mandatory. I double checked previous entries on earlier forms to see if I made an error, but it was accurate. Going back to the license application it continued to tell me my email address was not valid. I gave up.
I had the same issues about a month ago. Well I thought the problem was on my end but it took me 2 days of constant trying to get in to find out my callsign! Then when I set up echo link I need to send a digital copy and I spent hours and hours trying to get the damn website to work. The FCCs refusal to use regular mail is outrageous. I’m waiting for the IRS to do the same thing because then I won’t have to pay my taxes anymore 🤣. All kidding aside there are lots of older people who don’t own a cellphone let alone a computer and even if one was given to them and someone tried to sit down and teach them they still won’t be able to use it. My parents are in that category, as they aren’t hams and the rest of the government still uses regular mail it’s not an issue yet. Anyway apart from the infuriating frustration on the FCCs website issues and their refusal to do business by mail anymore the situation is actually amusing to me as the federal COMMUNICATIONS commission can’t communicate! 🤣🤣🤣
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