Thanks Dale for your view of this issue. I fully agree with your comments and that of others with regard to the $50.00 out of pocket expense for young future amateurs. Hope ARRL can get the FCC to eliminate or dramatically reduce the fees. Lynn Nelson ARRL Dakota Division Vice Director From: Dale Williams Sent: Wednesday, September 02, 2020 7:48 AM To: Kermit Carlson ; rjairam@gmail.com Cc: arrl-odv ; Michael Ritz Subject: [arrl-odv:30846] Re: Proposed Amateur Radio Application Fees I have received a limited number of comments on this issue. Like Kermit's experience, a small minority are favoring the $50 fee, but those seem to have derived their argument from a common source...based upon the similarity of their e-mails. I too, think the proposed fee will seriously impinge upon newcomers to the hobby, especially financially strapped young folks. Further, despite the several statements that "...it is only $5.00 a year...", no one sets that money aside as a reserve for license renewal. So the $50 is an immediate expenditure - and after listening to the complaints of the $49 for ARRL membership renewal, I suspect those same arguments will apply to the FCC fees. I remain steadfast that the FCC should continue its no-fee policy for any and all amateur radio related licensing. As many of us recall, they did away with the amateur radio related fees several years ago because it was allegedly more time consuming and costly for them to handle those fees than the money actually contributed to the Commission. I strongly believe the proposed $50 fee will be no different. Further, I suspect that with the personnel turnover at the FCC, there are few, if any, staffers who remember those earlier issues, and that has contributed to the situation we face today. As many constituents have stated, we contribute our own equipment, time and resources to community service, improvements in technology and international good will, we should not have to pay a fee to do that. 73, Dale WA8EFK