|
FCC Looks to Raise Vanity Call Sign Fees |
|
Written by ARRL.ORG
|
|
Monday, 12 May 2008 |
|
The FCC released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Order (NPRM) on May 8 seeking to raise fees for Amateur Radio vanity call signs. Currently, a vanity call sign costs $11.70 and is good for 10 years; the new fee, if the FCC plan goes through, will go up to $12.30 for 10 years, an increase of $.60. The FCC is authorized by the Communications Act of 1934 (as amended) to collect vanity call sign fees to recover the costs associated with that program. The vanity call sign regulatory fee is payable not only when applying for a new vanity call sign, but also upon renewing a vanity call sign for a new term. Instructions on how to comment on this NPRM are available on the FCC Web site. |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Ronald A Parise, WA4SIR (SK) |
|
Written by KG4ZXK.COM
|
|
Monday, 12 May 2008 |
Ron Parise, WA4SIR (SK) was instrumental in the development of the SAREX and ARISS programs. [Photo courtesy of NASA] |
Dr Ronald A. Parise, PhD, WA4SIR, passed away Friday May 9, 2008 after a very long and courageous battle with cancer. He was 57. Parise flew as a payload specialist on two space shuttle missions: STS-35 on Columbia in December 1990 and STS-67 on the Endeavour in March 1995. These two missions, ASTRO-1 and ASTRO-2 respectively, carried out ultraviolet and x-ray astronomical observations, logging more than 614 hours and 10.6 million miles in space. Parise was one of the first astronomers to operate a telescope from space, making hundreds of observations during the mission. Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Chairman Frank H. Bauer, KA3HDO, said Parise's personal contributions to these two missions provided scientists with "an unprecedented view of our universe, expanding our understanding of the birth, life and death of stars and galaxies." First licensed when he was 11, Parise kept Amateur Radio at the forefront of everything he did, including his operations from space. During his two shuttle flights, he spoke with hundreds of hams on the ground. He was instrumental in guiding the development of a simple ham radio system that could be used in multiple configurations on the space shuttle; as a result, his first flight on Columbia ushered in what Bauer called the "frequent flyer era" of the Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX) payload. |
|
|
Last Updated ( Monday, 12 May 2008 )
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
