[K4RY] Expired License Renewal process

[Jonathan Maybin]

Hello, everyone;

     I just recently went through my second expired ham radio license
renewal process (been a ham for over 20 years), and I wanted to let everyone
know about the procedures involved.

In the past, W5YI Group or other organizations would mail you forms and send
you some kind of notice that your license was about to expire, and they
would offer to fill out and turn in the Form 605 for a small fee (I think it
was $5 when I did my last one back in 2000--looks like $8 now).  This time,
after many moves, I did not receive any kind of notifications; and I just
happened to notice that my license expired last weekend. I remembered that I
had received notices from the FCC that an FCC Registration Number (FRN)
being attached to my ham license several years ago, and that the Universal
Licensing System could be used for updating and renewing my license.

I went to the FCC's website where I found the CORES/ULS link.  Once I was on
the ULS page, I had to use the lost password tool to establish a password,
but then I found that I had to establish a personal security question (PSQ)
before this could be done.  After setting the PSQ, I was informed that I
would have to wait 1-3 business days for it to be processed.  2 days later,
I was able to create a new password and quickly fill out a Form 605 renewal
form in the ULS.  This was very similar to filling out an online tax form
(but thankfully much faster!).  At the end of the page, I was able to submit
my form to the FCC and print out an official copy of my Form 605--no fees
were involved.

73's de N4YPK
Jonathan Maybin
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.eng.auburn.edu/pipermail/k4ry/attachments/20100407/114628ac/attachment.htm