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While on business travel, I received an email this week from Senator Cox's office confirming reversal of the DMV's policy regarding ham radio plates.

We did it, folks. Without all the help from proactive and courteous hams, this would not have happened. Please contact your state legislators letting them know we are grateful and thankful for their assistance in resolving this.

These plates are issued, upon request, to holders of Federal Communication Commission (FCC) amateur radio station licenses. The alpha-numeric series reflects the call letters assigned by the FCC (Vehicle Code §5005 and Revenue and Taxation Code §§10751, 10752).

If you have Amateur Radio (HAM) License Plates that have spaces between the numbers or letters and you would like plates without the spaces follow this link to the application. Complete the application and a Statement of Facts indicating that you wish to retain the old plates until the new plates arrive, at which time you will properly destroy the old plates. Mail both documents to the address on the bottom of the application form. No fees are required.

If you have questions or concerns regarding your Amateur Radio (HAM) license plates, please call Customer Communications at (916) 657-6560.

Aside from a couple of lids with poor prose and foul language, I've been overwhelmed with support and comments from the ham community. Many are cautiously optimistic about the alleged turn-around by the DMV. As soon as I hear more from the DMV, I'll post it here so check back often or check out the blog. One thing is clear to me -- we need better legislative lobbying than we are currently getting. I do intend to ask my senator for ham plates that are designated as such -- as soon as we hear from the DMV with an official release regarding the policy change and word on how to correct existing plates that are wrong.

Keep sending those letters until we hear official word of the policy change and how to get plates corrected. 73, John

THIS JUST IN: CA DMV REVERSES POLICY? SEE THE KG6S Blog FOR MORE INFORMATION

In August of 2007, I applied for my California amateur radio license plate using my upgraded callsign as many of you have. The process isn't very complex, just long -- about 10 weeks in this case. I noticed on the temporary registration, my call letters were separated by spaces thus:

I wasn't sure if the plate would be issue that way so I waited. Upon receipt, it certainly had the spaces. In contacting the "Special Plates Unit" at 916-657-8035 I was told that I needed to go to my local DMV branch and get the plates corrected. I went to Placerville and talked to Lisa Bell, administrative manager who said she would work on getting the plates corrected. A week later she called and confessed she could not get the plates fixed since they were now required to put spaces in amateur radio plates. She was sorry, but had to return the plates to me as-is. I tried one more call to the special plates unit and was told that it was now the law that these plates had to be broken up by spacing. In fact, the law clearly states otherwise in Section 5005 of the California Vehicle Code (all emphasis here is mine):

5005. (a) Any person holding an unexpired amateur radio station license issued by the Federal Communications Commission may, after the requirements for the registration of the motor vehicle have been complied with, also apply directly to the department for special license plates, and the department may issue special plates in lieu of the regular license plates. The special license plates shall be affixed to the motor vehicle for which registration is sought and, in lieu of the numbers otherwise prescribed by law, shall display the official amateur radio station call letters of the applicant as assigned by the Federal Communications Commission. The applicant shall, by satisfactory proof, show that he or she is the holder of an unexpired license.

There is in fact no law stating that spaces must be placed in the amateur callsign plate. In fact, the law clearly states the call must appear as assigned by the FCC. I asked them why the difference between amateur radio and plates and personalized plates? There was no answer. This is clearly discriminatory to the amateur radio community in California. Is it meant to disenfranchise the amateur community? It's certainly not recognizing the public and civic importance of amateurs in public service like ARES, RACES, and clubs contributing to public safety, welfare and security.

Next I contacted the ARRL Field and Regulatory Correspondent Chuck Skolaut, KØBOG, and the local ARRL Section Manager Ron Murdoc W6KJ. They were sympathetic but said this is outside of the purview of the ARRL charter. So I did two other things. First, I contacted my state senator Dave Cox, and I sent a letter explaining the saga to the DMV Director and also pointing out the points described above. Here is the response letter (PDF of original letter here) from George Valverde, director of the California DMV:

OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR
DEPARTMENT OF MOTOR VEHICLES
P.O. B0X 932328
SACRAMENTO, CA 94232-3280

December 21, 2007

Senator Dave Cox has asked me to respond to your letter dated December 4, 2007, regarding the spacing of your Amateur Radio call letters on your license plate.

Your letter stated when you ordered and received your Amateur Radio license plates, you noticed the call letters were separated by two spaces. You then contacted our Department to explain your concerns on how the spacing of the license plate is incorrect with respect to your call letters, and were informed the call letters had to be formatted in this way.

It was necessary for our Department to program spaces within the configuration of the radio call letters in order to differentiate between Amateur Radio license plates and other series license plates. Unlike other states, California does not distinguish the Amateur Radio license plate with a symbol or wording indicating the plate is an Amateur Radio plate. Therefore, when an Amateur Radio license plate is ordered, our system automatically configures spaces on the license plate. The Department is required by law to issue Amateur Radio license plates with your specific call letters; however, spacing is not addressed in statute and the Department can exercise its administrative authority in this regard.

The Department regrets that it is unable to process your request to remove the spaces between the radio call 1etters on your license plate If you have any additional questions regarding this matter, please contact Rose Smith, of my staff, at (916) 657-8013.

/s GEORGE VALVERDE

cc: Senator Dave Cox
Dennis Clear, Assistant Director of Legislation

It's obvious that the DMV does not abide by the California Vehicle Code. If it were me or you, we would be ticketed, arrested and found to be in violation of any of the vehicle codes. Since the offender is a bureaucracy, there is no penalty nor enforcement available against the DMV.

Why is this important? As an amateur in California if you need replacement plates or new callsign plates, they will be wrong like mine are, and they will not correctly display your callsign. If you are in public service organizations, most of them will recognize the callsign on the plate as a service vehicle and accord the vehicle and its occupants special parking, passes, and status. Having responded to civil emergencies with my vehicle and callsign plate and antennas -- these were indicators to the authorities that I was there to help and be part of the solution.

What can you do? I need you to help me form a grass-roots effort to do one of several things:

1) Contact your state senator and the governor letting them know you would like California amateur plates to be clearly marked as such, just like other states that have a higher regard for our public service. You can contact your senator here and the governor here.

2) Contact the Director of the DMV George Valverde requesting the DMV abide by the vehicle code at the following snail mail address:

OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR
DEPARTMENT OF MOTOR VEHICLES
P.O. B0X 932328
SACRAMENTO, CA 94232-3280

He's not a bad guy -- and he's done a good job "streamlining the DMV". Be nice and polite.

3) Tell others in your club and fellow amateurs you know about this web site and the importance of getting this issue resolved with the California DMV. Please refer them to this web site as I will update it when further actions occur.