RadioBanter - View Single Post - Permanent Residents who want to become hams

May 8th 04, 04:18 PM

(Steve Robeson K4CAP) wrote in
:

Subject: Permanent Residents who want to become hams
From: (William)
Date: 5/8/2004 6:32 AM Central Standard Time
Message-id:

"KØHB" wrote in message
rthlink.net...
"Dan Jacobson" wrote in message
...

Do most countries allow Permanent
Residents to obtain an operator's licence?
a station licence? all without needing to return or have any
paperwork from one's country of origin?

I don't know about other countries, but the US has no citizenship
requirement to obtain a US amateur radio operator or station license.
All you need is to pass the examination and to have a US mailing
address. You need never have ever stepped foot on US soil, if you
can somehow gain access to a US mailing address. As only ONE EXAMPLE
there was (is?) a flourishing VE group in Japan which was giving
tests in Japan, and the applicants would use mailing addresses in the
US (or US territories) to obtain their trophy US license, and in the
process grabbing up choice US call signs, which then become
unavailable to US citizens.

As an exercise for a rainy Saturday afternoon, peruse the FCC data
for AH0/KH0/NH0/WH0xx and AH2/KH2/NH2/WH2xx calls and note the
clusters of calls which share a common address and a penchant for
Japanese names (the citizens of the Marianas have predominately
hispanic surnames).

73, de Hans, K0HB

The second Japanese invasion of the Marianas Islands was economic.

There's a "PT2" that's been living in Atlanta for at least 20 years
who
continues to use his Brazilian call "portable 4". One wonder's who is
getting paid off on this one.

Steve, K4YZ

So long as he doesn't become a US citizen or get a US licence, and so long
as he keeps his Brazilian licence renewed, he can operate in the US
indefinitely. However, he should be signing "W4 portable PT2___". Only
Canadians are now supposed to add the US prefix on the end. "PT2___
portable W4" would have been right 20 years ago, but things change.

20 years ago he would have needed to apply to the FCC for a new 610A every
year, but now he doesn't need anything from the FCC to do it. Also, if he
really doesn't use a W in front of the 4 he would be saying he was in the
4th distrct of Brasil, so that would always have been totally incorrect, 20
years ago and now.

It used to be common to require citizenship as a condition of getting a
licence other than a reciprocal licence, but most countries dropped that
many years ago. There may still be some places left on the planet where it
is still the case, so it's always a good idea to check.