Vanity Callsign Approved, and First Hamfest

Callsign

Just a few random thoughts about the new vanity callsign.

Time from application to assignment: 19 days. Whew! Now I can finally sign up on ARRL, QRZ, etc., without worrying about confusion over a soon-obsolete callsign.
My new license expire date is exactly 10 years from today. Which means changing to a vanity callsign is effectively a license renewal. Interesting.
If you’re looking to get one, note the FCC no longer charges for this. All those services offering to help you through the “complicated” process for “only” $35 are … well, I don’t want to call them scams, but I guess I just did. Use the official site. Pick “Primary station preference list” unless you’re petitioning for an existing callsign. Then hang out for a couple of weeks while the FCC does its thing. Ezpz!

Hamfest

The annual Mike & Key Electronics Show was yesterday, so perfect timing for me. I’ve been listening in on the WW7PSR repeater since I got my ticket in February, but I haven’t been able to talk to it with my cheap starter handheld. So I scored a sweet dual band J-pole from K9JEB, which ought to help. And for those of you who remember my vow of frugality, I would probably have spent as much sourcing the parts for this thing as I spent on the already-built (and tuned!) unit. So I’m happy.

Photo by Doug [KD7DK] and Steve [N7GWG]. Original here.

Nice to put faces to some of the names I’m hearing on the repeater. And for those of you curious about mine, that’s me with the aforementioned sweet dual-band J-pole in the middle of the back row.

See you on the repeater, and soon enough, everywhere the ionosphere allows :)

73 @ki7tns

Vanity Callsign Approved, and First Hamfest

Callsign

Hamfest

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