$35 Amateur/GMRS radio fees

[J.W.]

It may have taken a bit longer than expected, not that it matters a bit, but I have my license now.
All’s well that ends well as they say.

Congrats! Glad to hear it showed up. Now get out there and get on the air

 

[M Rose]

I will look that up!

Tests are administered outside of the FCC, by VE's.
The U.S. Amateur Radio License program is administered by the FCC.

Other than that, I was being facetious in my answer about the black hole where the money goes.

Section 36: Paragraph 64 of Schedule of Application Fees of the Commission's Rules
[64] While we appreciate the commenters' diligent advocacy for their service, we remind them that the Commission does not have discretion on how to use application fees, which must be deposited in the U.S. Treasury.”

The new $35.00 fee goes into effect April 19,2021 for both GMRS and Amateur Radio.

 

[M Rose]

I received the fallowing from the ARRL VEC team:

$35 FCC application fee in the Federal Register - does NOT take effect yet.

The final rule change was published in the Federal Register today March 19, 2021: Federal Register -schedule-of-application-fees-of-the-commissions-rules

Even though the document has an effective date of April 19, the Amateur Radio fees will not yet be required.
The fee changes outlined in this order will nottake effect until the requisite notice has beenprovided to Congress, the FCC’s informationtechnology systems and internal procedures havebeen updated, and the Commission publishesnotice(s) in the Federal Register announcing theeffective date. This will most likely be in thesummer.


The following application types will be subjected to the fee when the rule finally takes effect.

New, Modification (Upgrade and Sequential call sign change), Renewal, and Vanity callsign requests will be subjected to the $35 application fee. There will be no fee for Administrative Updates (email or mailing address changes, name changes).

The instructions on the FCC Fee Schedule are for the applicant to pay application fees directly to FCC via the License Manager System or Fee Filer System. VECs and VE teams will not have to collect the $35 fee at the session.

The ARRL VEC exam fee will remain at $15.
When the FCC application fee eventually takes effect, new and upgrade applicants will pay the $15 exam session fee to the VE team as usual and then pay the $35 application fee directly to the FCC.

 

[maxst2]

Still showing $70 when you try and check out

Still $70 as of today too

 

[M Rose]

Still $70 as of today too

If you read up one post and fallow my link, you would see that the fee change won’t be implemented until mid summer at the soonest. There are still several key things that have to be done before the fees will change...

 

[EXPO_D1]

i was tired of waiting. i paid for my GMRS lic

 

[CReifsnyder]

Well 6 years ago I was very big into Large Scale RC aircraft... then the FFA said I had to register my aircraft... no big deal... the next year they mad a law that also required me to get a pilot license to be able to fly my aircraft along with a heftier registration fee because the aircraft I flew ranges between 75 and 150lbs. Now mind you I flew on my own private property, so it shouldn’t have been a big deal... but then I had to get my runway certified... all of this drove me out of the hobby.

Now how does this pertain to Amateur Radio... coming up with $15.00 for a test is hard enough on my income... now raise that up to $35.00 there is now where for me to pull that money from...

Its worse than most people think. As a VE for Ham testing we have been instructed that the $35.00 is a fee that is in addition to the amounts we are used to. Ham testing will now be $15 for the testing fee and an additional $35 for the filing fee. That would indicate to me that for GMRS the fee wasnt cut in half but actually will remain $70 with an additional $35 filing fee for a total of $105.00. Elections have consequences.

 

[M Rose]

Its worse than most people think. As a VE for Ham testing we have been instructed that the $35.00 is a fee that is in addition to the amounts we are used to. Ham testing will now be $15 for the testing fee and an additional $35 for the filing fee. That would indicate to me that for GMRS the fee wasnt cut in half but actually will remain $70 with an additional $35 filing fee for a total of $105.00. Elections have consequences.

No the GMRS fee is currently paid to the Department of Treasury. And it is specifically stated in the amendments referenced earlier in this thread that the GMRS fee is reduced to from $75.00 to $35.

Yes it’s going to cost $50.00 to get your technician license once all the fees are imposed. VEs will still charge their current fees. Then once the applicant passes the exam they will have to pay the Department of Treasury the other$35.00.

I too am a VE as well as the President of our local club. I have had several talks with David Minster (NA2AA) who is the CEO of the ARRL and is the liaison between the ARRL and congress.

 

[sycboi]

i was tired of waiting. i paid for my GMRS lic

I just got my Midland MXT275 hard wired into my Jeep TJ so I went ahead and paid the $70. I got tired of waiting, plus I want to make sure I am technically legal...

 

[M Rose]

FCC states the $35.00 fees won’t be collected until early 2022.

FCC Application Fees Unlikely to Go into Effect Until 2022

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) is the national association for amateur radio, connecting hams around the U.S. with news, information and resources.

arrl.org

 

[huachuca]

I recently received an email indicating my GMRS license needs to be renewed by November of 2021. It was originally issued in 2016 for a five year term but I understand licenses granted in 2017 and more recently are for ten years. Do I need to renew now? If so, what is the cost? Trying to use the 'Pay fees' tab on the email link results in a message of "There are no file numbers for this FRN

Note: FRN is valid and shown in the email. I can access my account with my call sign from the ULS site and see all pertinent data. Suggestions?

 

[Prerunner1982]

@huachuca I can't help you with the FRN issue but your fee would be $70 and be good for 10yrs.
If you choose to wait until the $35 fee takes effect you may end up with a different callsign, I am not sure GMRS has the grace period that ham radio does.

 

[huachuca]

Thanks for the response Prerunner., much appreciated.

 

[Dcwn.45]

I'm confused, I think I understand the GMRS thing, no test, but pay a $70 fee , good for 10 years, going to be reduced to $35 at some point.
I just passed my tech license for Ham yesterday and I had to pay $15 to the guys administering the test, and I was told that the FCC will post my call sign [and email me] and then I'm legal to transmit on ham. There was no mention of more fees.
Is this correct or is there another step I need to take?

 

[Willys Yella Jeep]

Just go to the FCC ULS ( Universal Licensing System) page. Search by name. You should find it within days. Then print it. You are done. Hard copy mail might take awhile. But if you aren't setting up a radio shack all you need is the license.

BTW, good idea to program your callsign to pop up on your baofeng screen when turn it on.

Willy

 

[Dcwn.45]

Yes, I'm checking every day, good idea about the call sign, thanks

 

[M Rose]

I'm confused, I think I understand the GMRS thing, no test, but pay a $70 fee , good for 10 years, going to be reduced to $35 at some point.
I just passed my tech license for Ham yesterday and I had to pay $15 to the guys administering the test, and I was told that the FCC will post my call sign [and email me] and then I'm legal to transmit on ham. There was no mention of more fees.
Is this correct or is there another step I need to take?

Right now there is only the $15.00 fee payable to the VE (you already payed that). Early 2022 there will be a few payable to the FCC that will be collected by the FCC after they receive your credentials from the VE. The license is good for 10 years.

The same piece of legislation that is bringing the FCC license fee for amateur radio from free to $35.00 is the same legislation that is reducing the GMRS license fee from $70.00 to $35.00.

Your VE is correct, as soon as the FCC gets your information imputed into their database, the FCC will issue you a call sign and you will be legal to transmit. Call signs are usually published 3-5 days after testing if done in paper, if done online call signs are known to come 24-48 hours later.

 

[M Rose]

Just go to the FCC ULS ( Universal Licensing System) page. Search by name. You should find it within days. Then print it. You are done. Hard copy mail might take awhile. But if you aren't setting up a radio shack all you need is the license.

BTW, good idea to program your callsign to pop up on your baofeng screen when turn it on.

Willy

The FCC no longer mails a hard copy of your license. The operator has 30 days to download the official copy of their license from the date the FCC sends out the email. And it doesn’t matter if you’re operating portable or have a shack, you still have to have a printed license on your persons while transmitting…

 

[Dcwn.45]

thanks M Rose

 

[M Rose]

thanks M Rose

No problem…