On Thu, 12 Aug 2004 22:33:16 GMT, Dave Heil wrote:

I'm with you on both questions, Brian. Besides, I figure those charged
with administering and enforcing amateur radio are already drawing a
paycheck.

The license fees collected have no relationship to the "salary and
expenses" portions of the FCC budget. In fact, it works in reverse.
The Vanity processing fees do not go to the Commission, but the work
of processing them gets done by regular employees as part of the job.
It's just another siphon from the public's pocketbook invented by The
Congress. The FCC was very happy not having to collect and process
fee payments in the decade or so when they were suspended.

Aside from Riley Hollingsworth, those who are charged with
amateur radio testing are already getting a free ride. Let the no-loads
have a go at doing what they're supposed to be doing. Why should radio
amateur volunteers do their work for them?

If you are referring to the former field office examiners, those
positions were abolished in the early 1990s after all amateur and
commercial examination functions were privatized. The employees
affected either retired, were transferred to other open clerical
slots, or were RIFfed in the Great Debacle of 1996. The examiner at
my office became the office secretary when the former secretary
transferred to another agency in 1991 but retained the tail-end
examiner work until the privitization was finalized.

As I have stated here quite often, I am in favor of the FCC
"unprivatizing" the examination function, but the chances of that
happening are somewhere between none and zero.

--
73 de K2ASP - Phil Kane