05/26/2016
An Arizona radio amateur has been unsuccessful in convincing the FCC to take a
1 x 2 vanity call sign away from its present holder and grant it to him. In the
process, Joshua Babb, K6FZ, may have learned not to rely on informal advice
from FCC staffers. Babb, of Maricopa, Arizona, had been trying[1] to get the
initial-suffix call sign W3JB since 2014, and he was briefly successful. The
prior holder of W3JB, John K. Birch, had died, and the 2-year waiting period
was set to end on August 18, 2014. Babb filed an application for W3JB in July
2014, however, claiming an exemption to the 2-year waiting period on grounds
that he was the deceased licensee's nephew, and the FCC granted it.
Subsequently pressed to document that relationship, Babb indicated that Birch
actually had been his great-great uncle, the FCC recounted in an Order on
Reconsideration[2] released on May 25 - a relationship that did not qualify for
an exemption.
"Because you did not qualify for the exemption, the [Mobility] Division
concluded that you should not have been granted call sign W3JB during the
2-year waiting period," the FCC told Babb in its Order.
The FCC proposed to modify Babb's license by replacing W3JB with KD7HLX, but in
September of 2015, Babb filed to swap W3JB for the available K6FZ, which was
granted the following month. Under Commission rules, when a call sign is
granted in error after the normal 2-year waiting period has ended, it becomes
unavailable for 30 days after the erroneous grant is rescinded. The FCC
informed Babb of this provision at the time it granted K6FZ, telling him he
could reapply.
Babb sought clarification of the W3JB availability date from an FCC staff
member, who calculated that it was November 2, 2015. Babb filed two
preference-list applications for W3JB on that date as well as one on November 3
and another on November 5. The FCC instead granted W3JB to Scott Phillips of
Plano, Texas, who had filed a competing November 3 application and was granted
through the FCC's "standard lottery process." The FCC staffer subsequently
informed Babb that his advice had been incorrect, and that November 3 was the
correct date.
On December 1, 2015, Babb file a Petition for Reconsideration of the grant to
Phillips, arguing that, based on his prior staff communication, the call sign
should have become available on November 2. The FCC said such a petition "must
identify a material error, omission, or other reason that justifies further
consideration" and that Babb's Petition failed to do so. The FCC said its
Universal Licensing System (ULS) had processed the applications correctly.
"[E]rroneous staff advice is not grounds for reconsideration," the FCC said in
its denial Order. "Licensees are obligated to know the Commission's rules. It
is well established than an applicant acts on staff advice at his own risk." In
any case, the FCC pointed out, Babb nonetheless had filed an application on the
correct day.
[1] http://www.arrl.org/news/fcc-proposes-bumping-arizona-radio-amateur-s-licens
e-back-to-former-call-sign
[2] https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-16-581A1.pdf
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