AG38
QST de W1AW  
ARRL Bulletin 38  ARLB038
>From ARRL Headquarters  
Newington CT  December 2, 2020
To all radio amateurs 

SB QST ARL ARLB038
ARLB038 FCC to Require Email Addresses on Applications

Amateur radio licensees and candidates will have to provide the FCC
with an email address on applications, effective sometime in
mid-2021.

If no email address is included, the FCC may dismiss the application
as defective.

The FCC is fully transitioning to electronic correspondence and will
no longer print or provide wireless licensees with hard-copy
authorizations or registrations by mail.

A Report and Order (R&O) on 'Completing the Transition to Electronic
Filing, Licenses and Authorizations, and Correspondence in the
Wireless Radio Services' in WT Docket 19-212 was adopted on
September 16. The new rules will go into effect 6 months after
publication in the Federal Register, which hasn't happened yet, but
the FCC is already strongly encouraging applicants to provide an
email address.

When an email address is provided, licensees will receive an
official electronic copy of their licenses when the application is
granted.

The Report and Order can be found in PDF format online at,
https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-adopts-electronic-licensing-report-and-order
.

Under Section 97.21 of the new rules, a person holding a valid
amateur station license 'must apply to the FCC for a modification of
the license grant as necessary to show the correct mailing and email
address, licensee name, club name, license trustee name, or license
custodian name.' For a club or military recreation station license,
the application must be presented in document form to a club station
call sign administrator who must submit the information to the FCC
in an electronic batch file.

Under new Section 97.23, each license will have to show the
grantee's correct name, mailing address, and email address. 'The
email address must be an address where the grantee can receive
electronic correspondence,' the amended rule will state. 'Revocation
of the station license or suspension of the operator license may
result when correspondence from the FCC is returned as undeliverable
because the grantee failed to provide the correct email address.'