SB QST @ ARL $ARLB020
ARLB020 Vanity may be back on track

ZCZC AG20
QST de W1AW  
ARRL Bulletin 20  ARLB020
From ARRL Headquarters  
Newington CT  March 15, 2002
To all radio amateurs 

SB QST ARL ARLB020
ARLB020 Vanity may be back on track

After another brief dry spell, the FCC this week issued 37 new
vanity call sign grants but put off further vanity processing until
early next week. The latest processing run included vanity
applications received by the FCC through last December 14.

For now, FCC personnel are cautiously optimistic about restarting
routine processing. ''If everything ran properly last night, I expect
we will run another batch on Monday night,'' a Private Wireless
Division Licensing and Technical Analysis Branch staff member told
ARRL. ''From there, we'll just have to see how the system holds up.
If it continues to work properly, we will process daily.'' After
initially restarting routine processing March 6 and issuing some 600
vanity grants, the FCC put the system on hold again after the March
8 run. Other Amateur Service applications have continued to be
processed normally.

FCC Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, staffers have spent this week sorting
out the vanity application processing anomaly that led them to again
put vanity processing on hold. A staff member explained March 14
that the Licensing Branch experienced a problem that involved the
improper dismissal of a vanity application--apparently a processing
software glitch. A decision was made to halt vanity processing and
fix the problem now rather than risk having to call back grants
later, she explained.

A substantial backlog of vanity applications that were delayed as a
result of anthrax-related mail problems last October remains to be
processed. The FCC database indicates some 1700 pending
applications--most of them vanities--some 500 of which still are
within the FCC's typical 18-day vanity processing window.

Amateurs with pending applications may take advantage of the FCC
Call Center's toll free number, 888-CALL FCC (888-225-5322) or may
initiate an application search via the ULS,
http://wireless.fcc.gov/uls.
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