Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Vanity Call Sign & GMRS Regulatory Fees Eliminated

As of September 3, 2015, there will be no fee to apply for or renew an amateur radio vanity call sign, and the cost of a General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) license will drop from $90 to $65.

In a Report & Order released September 2, the FCC announced that "regulatory fees" for both amateur vanity calls and for General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) licenses would be eliminated as of the 3rd. The Commission had previously announced its intention to remove these fees but had not published an effective date until now.

The order noted that this change applies only to so-called "regulatory" fees and that any application fees associated with these licenses remain in effect. There are no application fees for amateur licenses (even though there are exam fees), but there is a $65 application fee for a GMRS license, which remains in effect. Only the separate $35 GMRS "regulatory" fee has been dropped.

The complete text of the FCC Report & Order is at <http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2015/db0902/FCC-15-108A1.pdf>.  The section on amateur and GMRS regulatory fees is on pages 11 and 12. (Please note that due to a computer system upgrade, this document may not be available until after Labor Day.)