Posted by: Doc, W6QE on May 24, 2000 at 14:57:20:
Hello Again,
"Vanity Licensing" is a term that has rankled me ever since I first heard it. I have decided to write to the ARRL to ask them to work to get it changed and I urge others to do the same. Perhaps a ground swell of indignation will have some effect and we won't know if we don't try.
When I got my call most of the W6 and K6 calls were gone and I suffered what seemed like the indignity of getting a WA6 call, with an awkward and unlovely suffix, HGB.
Later, as a reward to hams who worked hard to upgrade their licenses, the FCC instigated the "incentive licensing" program, wherein one might qualify for a shorter call sign. For instance, Extra class licensees might request a 1 x 2 call.
At some point some choice was given so that one might apply for specific calls which happened not to be assigned. By that time "vanity" auto license plates had become available in some states and the FCC seems to have borrowed that term for the new licensing system in which some limited choice was added to the incentive program already in place.
Webster defines vain as, "1. having no real value: IDLE, WORTHLESS 2. FRUITLESS, UNSUCCESSFUL 3. FOOLISH, SILLY 4. Having or showing undue or escessive pride in one's appearance or achievements: CONCEITED."
Vanity is defined as: "1. Something that is vain ... a. WORTHLESSNESS, EMPTINESS, b. FUTILITY, c. inflated pride in oneself or one's appearance: CONCEIT. ..."
Now that I have, for the purpose of writing this letter, actually looked up the definition of vanity I am well and truly offended. I can hardly imagine what malice, or at least inconsideration, ignorance and stupidity, on the part of some FCC functionary, caused that term to be appended to the Amateur Radio Licensing program. Vanity is clearly the polar opposit of what amateur radio and the ham call sign represent.
Now that I have, after 33 years with an assigned Advanced Class call sign, upgraded and received a 1 x 2 "vanity" call, I am PERSONALLY very offended. The work and dedication I have applied to ham radio over the years, and especially during the months when I prepared for the upgrade exam for Extra Class, are equal to that required for any commercial license on the planet, and comperable to the work and study required for many academic degrees. No one has had the temerity to call my B.A, my M.D., or my board certifications in Family Practice, Psychiatry and Addiction Psychiatry mere "vanities" when I put their initials on my letterhead. No more should they so denigrate my 1 x 2 call sign simply because the modern computer age has permitted the FCC to accomodate special requests and thereby given me some choice in the matter.
The mere fact that it has been especially requested does not render an EARNED call sign worthless, empty, foolish, fruitless or conceited. Moreover there is not one single meaning of "vanity" in the dictionary that is applicable in any way to the amateur radio licensing program.
Applied to amateurs the term "vanity" is therefore as gratuitously offensive and abusive as a racial epithet, and it should be dropped!
Doc, W6QE