San Antonio Hams

The Skywarn Operators at the Austin-San Antonio NWO are in the process of updating our files and call-up list. Recently we have found the EC’s, Skywarn Coordinators and Net Controls have changed drastically in the various counties we serve.
It has also been found that several repeaters used in the past to contact and monitor Skywarn operations have changed or are no longer functioning.
If someone from each county could please e-mail me the contact information, frequencies and other pertinent information for ARES and Skywarn it would be greatly appreciated.
Also be advised that we have created a Facebook page and Twitter account to help get the word out. Feel free to like or follow to stay up to date with our operations.
Thank You, Louis – K5STX
e-mail to wx5exw at gmail dot com

05/22/2015 from ARRL

The FCC is eliminating the regulatory fee to apply for an Amateur Radio vanity call sign. The change will not go into effect, however, until required congressional notice has been given. This will take at least 90 days. As the Commission explained in a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Report and Order, and Order (MD Docket 14-92 and others), released May 21, it’s a matter of simple economics.

“The Commission spends more resources on processing the regulatory fees and issuing refunds than the amount of the regulatory fee payment,” the FCC said. “As our costs now exceed the regulatory fee, we are eliminating this regulatory fee category.” The current vanity call sign regulatory fee is $21.40, the highest in several years. The FCC reported there were 11,500 “payment units” in FY 2014 and estimated that it would collect nearly $246,100.

In its 2014 Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) regarding the assessment and collection of regulatory fees for FY 2014, the FCC had sought comment on eliminating several smaller regulatory fee categories, such as those for vanity call signs and GMRS. It concluded in the subsequent Report and Order (R&O) last summer, however, that it did not have “adequate support to determine whether the cost of recovery and burden on small entities outweighed the collected revenue or whether eliminating the fee would adversely affect the licensing process.

See full article at….

http://www.arrl.org/news/view/fcc-eliminates-amateur-radio-vanity-call-sign-regulatory-fee

W2IK

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Date:  Tue, 5 May 2015 23:30:12 -0400 (EDT) HB 939 — Thank You For Calling/Faxing Your State Representative But, More Calls & Faxes Need To Be Made

HB 939 is still scheduled to be voted on by the Texas House of Representatives on Thursday, May 7, 2015.

We have a very, very good chance of passing this Bill — IF we have the same effort that everyone made on the cell phone bills. John Robert Stratton, N5AUS, West Gulf Vice Director and his XYL, Mary, visited the Capitol today to speak to each Representative to personally ask them to vote for HB 939. A lot of State Representatives and their staffs commented that they had been called and/or faxed by Hams, asking them to vote for HB 939 — they were impressed. But, many of you have not yet called or faxed your State Representative. We need you to do so. The ARRL cannot pass legislation beneficial to Ham Radio — or defeat legislation that hurts Ham Radio — unless you help us. For those who did not call or fax, we really, really need you to do so on Wednesday. You may determine who is your State Representative — and their fax and telephone numbers — by going to this link and inserting your zip code or your zip code and your address: http://www.house.state.tx.us/members/find-your-representative/

Please DO NOT CALL OR FAX STATE REPRESENTATIVES TONY DALE, RENE OLIVEIRA OR MATT SCHAEFER. These Gentlemen are our Sponsors — they don’t need to be convinced.

DO NOT EMAIL — the ONLY effective contact methods are either faxes or telephone calls. Whether you contact your Representative by phone or fax: BE POLITE – ALWAYS — elected Representatives and their staff are not our enemies. They want to hear from their constituents — the people who vote for them — about Bills their constituents want passed. Some staff members may ask where you are from or for your telephone number – it is ok to tell them – it makes you “real” and convinces them you are not a phony caller. If you call or fax and their telephone numbers are busy – that is good news, because it means other Hams are calling. KEEP CALLING OR FAXING UNTIL YOU GET THROUGH. Read the rest of this entry »