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This is not my post. I'm simply REposting it here in
rec.radio.shortwave because I know that some of this group are also interested in "ham" radio. This repost begins immediately, without comment. Al ============== FCC Suspends Amateur Service License Grants to Unsnarl System Snafu NEWINGTON, CT, Nov 8, 2004--The FCC has stopped issuing Amateur Service license grants while it attempts to unravel an apparent computer programming glitch. The FCC posted a public alert on the Universal Licensing System (ULS) site on November 5. At this point, no one seems to know when the problem will be fixed. "The granting of Amateur applications has been temporarily suspended," the FCC announcement says without further explanation. "We apologize for the inconvenience." The Commission has given no indication when processing might resume, but when it does, the FCC likely will pull back more than 125 Group D (2x3) amateur call signs it mistakenly issued out of sequence and grant the applicants new in-sequence call signs. Although they eventually may be set aside and replaced, all call signs showing up in the ULS database remain legal. The difficulties began October 28, when the FCC implemented a ULS software change that caused applications to be processed improperly. ARRL Volunteer Examiner Coordinator Manager Bart Jahnke, W9JJ, says the FCC was forced to stop processing amateur applications after attempts to correct the initial error only seemed to make things worse. "The FCC is still trying to get its arms around the problems," he said this week. For some as-yet-undetermined reason the October 28 modification caused all amateur applications from the nation's VECs to be shunted into "Pending 2" status, flagging them for manual review without any justification. By November 2, the FCC thought it had things under control again, and it reprocessed all the applications in the queue. At first blush, all looked to be in order, Jahnke said, but closer inspection revealed that the system had failed to grant some routine requests for new sequential call signs. "By the afternoon, we realized that the FCC had erroneously begun issuing new Group D call signs in several districts from altogether new call sign blocks--out of sequence from where processing in those districts had last ended," Jahnke said. While the first and third call districts were unaffected, the FCC apparently jumped from issuing call signs in the KC2Nxx sequence to the WQ2Axx sequence, Jahnke said. It also had assigned WQ4xxx, WQ5xxx, WQ7xxx and WQ9xxx call signs. In the eighth district, there was a gap between KD8xxx to KM8xxx call signs, while in the tenth district the Commission went from KC0Txx to WI0Axx. In the sixth district, the sequence shifted from KG6Wxx to KI6Axx. The ARRL VEC has been working with personnel in the FCC's licensing branch to identify where the FCC had been in the call sign sequences, where it had jumped to and where it was supposed to be. Jahnke says the problem appears to have affected only Group D call signs. He emphasized that any call signs the FCC issued are in the ULS database and therefore are valid, and licensees may use them on the air. "Just don't get too familiar with them," he advised. "It is our understanding that at some point, the FCC will set aside the out-of-sequence grants and issue new call signs to affected licensees." ================================================== ======== Bob Reed, W2CE Toms River, NJ 08757 ================================================== ======== |
#2
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that's funny stuff
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