Good Afternoon:

We heard back from the FCC (actually, we received an e-mail sent to the entire VEC Community this time) regarding our concerns about the implementation of what is being called the “felony question”.

In summary, they have moved the implementation date back to the “firm date” September 7, 2017, roughly a month from the original implementation date. After that date, and at a specific time which will be announced sometime before that date, “….all electronic batch and interactive filings will reflect the new form change. Any electronic batch files submitted in the old format after the specified time will receive an errored response file and will need to be corrected, there will be no grace period when the change occurs.”

The felony question will have to be answered for all applications for New, Modifications, Renewal Modifications and Amendments, and answered each time an application is filed. Further, clubs are not exempt from the felony question. The question applies to the club as an entity and to the trustee, but not to any other individual officers. There are requirements on how and what to file if the applicant has answered “yes” to the felony question, including specifically what the Commission will require if the applicant requests the information to remain out of the public view.

Maria Somma, AB1FM, ARRL VEC Manager, will be attending the NCVEC conference this coming Friday where she plans to come to an agreement with the other VECs on the specifics of the changes to the NCVEC form and other administrative issues. This change will require our stocking the VEC teams with new forms and will likely cost in the neighborhood of $1,500 for the initial printing of the new Form 605.

We will post a story on the ARRL website about the FCC’s announcement in the next day or so.

73,

Barry J. Shelley, N1VXY

Chief Financial Officer

ARRL, Inc.

The National Association for Amateur Radio

(860) 594-0212