Ham Radio License Plates

[Radio]

Back in the old days, a ham radio plate in Georgia was "free", there was no "tag fee" in addition to the ad valorem tax applied to the vehicle. Everyone else paid a tag free of about $10 - what it costs to make the plate.

Then times got tough and politicians greedy, and somebody stuck up a 5 element yagi in some rich senators neighborhood :whistle: so now instead of just a regular tag fee, we have to pay a "vanity plate fee" of $35 dollars, in addition to the regular plate fee of $20. $55 total.

And this is per year, not just the year the metal plate is made.

I would think it fair to pay a fee to make the plate, and then the regular tag fee there after. Perhaps the goverment doesn't think we hams are as valuable as we used to be.

I was wondering where all the ham radio tags had gone. Gone the way of the real QSL post card, I guess. :violin2:

It just costs so much nobody wants to go there anymore. Do you still carry a ham radio plate?

[W5DOK]

In Texas, a "Texas Radio Operator" plate is $2. Just enough to cover the cost of the plate. You can put the same number on all of your vehicles.
Doc

[KF7NJC]

For me it was a case of more negatives than positives with the call plates. Mainly, too many people seem to know where to go to get a home address and other information by use of the call sign. There just didn't seem any benefits to offset the decrease in home security or privacy, especially while on the road. I now use a simple 146.52 placard in the rear window and still manage to make some contacts on the road.

[N3LYT]

Same deal in Maine "the gift that keeps on giving" (to the state) Two of the legislators were hams and I tried to get them to sponsor a bill for ham plates years ago guess they wanted the money more then the plates. I do see the point of security but they can get all the info they want on facebook!

[wa8yxm]

In Michigan I think there is a small fee (Like a few dollars or so, cost of stamping out the plate) for the years where we get new steel, if all we get is a renewal sticker we pay the standard registration fee, same as if w had a "Generic" plate, no extra charge.

But we only pay when we get new plates, and that's not often. Otherwise it is a standard reneway.

The folks who get vanity plates pay every year.

That ALMOST happened here when they passed the vanity plate law, but a sharp ham on a congrress critter's staff put the word out and the postmaster had to call U-Haul for an extra truck to delever a couple of days latter (not really but you get the idea) and the exception for callsign plates was quickly added to the bill.

[W9WLS]

In Michigan I think there is a small fee (Like a few dollars or so, cost of stamping out the plate) for the years where we get new steel, if all we get is a renewal sticker we pay the standard registration fee, same as if w had a "Generic" plate, no extra charge.

But we only pay when we get new plates, and that's not often. Otherwise it is a standard reneway.

The folks who get vanity plates pay every year.

That ALMOST happened here when they passed the vanity plate law, but a sharp ham on a congrress critter's staff put the word out and the postmaster had to call U-Haul for an extra truck to delever a couple of days latter (not really but you get the idea) and the exception for callsign plates was quickly added to the bill.

Pretty much the same in Indiana !
My Son (WA9DDK) lives in Macon,Ga. and switched to straight plates when the extra fee came into play as did many others in the area.
He did however find a sign maker that doe's work for several of the "professional" agency's who made him some 4" reflective letter's which he applied to the lift gate of his Durango, they look pretty good and show up at a good distance.

[wa8yxm]

Me I'd have just displayed a slightly modified old plate (I'd use something to block the state name on the plate and other things so it's just the call that shows)

What you need to do is mount a letter writing campaign.

Now. one other thing.. The states are REQUIRED under the homeland security act to provide for an emergency communactions plan that includes Amateur radio.. Many may not know this but both the ARRL and some professional newsletters I've read (I am a retired police dispatcher, Yup, get paid for telling cops where to go, Does it even get better than that?) did cover that requirement.

When I applied for call sign plates I had to sign an agreement which said that if the county sheriff, or director of the state police (my ex-boss) ever calls upon me to assist in a communications emergency I will respond.. Has happened.. Once.

If nobody signs up for call sign plates.. Then the state can't require we hams respond, and thus can't generate such a plan and thus may loose millions in federal funds.. All over a relative small amount of fee income on the plates.

This might be a talking point (After full research of course) in the letters to your congress critters.

[NN5I]

I have old NN5I plates from Texas. The front one never had yearly stickers, and I have typically displayed a stickerless TX call plate above my current Florida plate. I'm assured this is legal, even though it says "Texas Radio Operator" on it. No cop has ever so much as mentioned it, so I'm comfortable with it.

[wa8yxm]

As to the line above about home security "It is too easy to get your address from the call" (QRZ, Ham Call Lookup, FCC, and many more web sites)

The address on my call is a shoebox at a strip mall (OK< so it's a Post office box but you get the idea). Not my house, At least most of the time (If I stop into the mall to pick up mail, visit Kroger, dollar store, auto parts place, THEN it's my house, otherwise,, House is .. Pictured on QRZ)

[KC1BUD]

Pretty much the same in Indiana !
My Son (WA9DDK) lives in Macon,Ga. and switched to straight plates when the extra fee came into play as did many others in the area.
He did however find a sign maker that doe's work for several of the "professional" agency's who made him some 4" reflective letter's which he applied to the lift gate of his Durango, they look pretty good and show up at a good distance.

In Michigan for college plates "Renewal fee: $25 ($10 donation fee plus $15 personalized service fee) in addition to the annual
plate fee". For veterans and others it is "$15 personalized service fee, in addition to the annual plate fees".

Amatuer is $2 initial and free thereafter plus regular plate fees

--Novice operators not eligible for ham plates.
--The Michigan state law itself authorizes amateur radio operators to receive police frequencies in their vehicles.
A ham plate is NOT required, or even mentioned in the law.
The amateur radio license plate is purely optional.
-- For the application, see http://www.michigan.gov/documents/orderform_aro_24944_7.pdf
--For $7.00 you can get a graphic plate with a picture of the Mackinac Bridge (instead of the plain white lettering on blue background for $2.00)

I hope this helps.

[N3LYT]

My pickup looks a bit like a trawler I guess if some one can't figure out I'm a ham there not. I would not mind a ham tag but I'm not going to pay for it forever.

[wa8yxm]

In Michigan I think we pay $2.00 extra when we get a metal plate made special.. Others pay like 25 for a vanity plate.. The Vanity plate law, as written originally, would have done that to us as well.. However some senator had a ham radio operator for a secretary and as a result the lansing postmaster had to make a phone call.....

Something like this: Hello, U-haul.. Uh,, Somebody on the hill screwed up again, we'll need a couple of rental trucks for the day".

Do the same to your capitol city postmaster,, Both E-mail and paper mail, and burn up a few phone lines, and perhas an amendment can be drafted and passed.

[N3LYT]

If I thought that would work I would gladly use my truck! I could not even get the two ham legislators in Maine to sponsor a bill and one was an old friend.

[K4EAK]

I've got a ham radio license plate, as do most of the members of my club (the LaGrange Amateur Radio Club). LARC is a pretty active organization, and I guess it's part of the local culture that we all (mostly all) carry call-sign tags.

I'm also not as distressed by the surcharge (which, as noted, is pretty steep in Georgia). Over the years, I've grown generally weary of public funding for everyone's special interests and have moved more in favor of user fees -- if you want something from the government, fine, pay for it. I realize that the concept isn't a perfect match for ham radio license plates, but it's close enough that I don't get real worked up about paying the fee.

As to people knowing how to find me: my identity, location, interests, and general bio are so splattered over the internet that my ham radio license plate is the least of my problems. So, I don't get worked up about that either.

YMMV.
73 Skip K4EAK

[N3LYT]

Shoot with a street address one can find your house and your cars parked in the drive way on Google Earth! It's really hard to be anonymous any more.

[W5DOK]

And if you Google ham radio operators in your county, you get all the info that's on file with the FCC. It's impossible to keep your private info private anymore.
Doc

[Radio]

Skip from LaGrange GA.

Hmmm? Why does that seem so familiar, me being right up the road in Fayetteville?

[wa8yxm]

BUD,, I carry a copy of that Michigan Law wrapped around my "Ticket" (Extra class licene for non ham-speakers on the forum). I've met law enforcement officers who did not understand that paragraph, and what's more I had ham plates on the car. (It's the license (HAM) not the Registration plate, that grants the privileged.

Knowledge of the law came in handy a time or two on the job. (Police dispatcher) when I'm sorry to say the supect was a ham, and yes, he had a scanner. so we had to use other means to direct our cars to where we suspected he was going.. Worked well too, he pulled in the drive right in front of the Blue Goose that pulled in behind him, Neatly out flanked, he surrendered.

[megahurst]

Indiana went from $4 to $8 over a few years THEN - dropped the whole fee. Apparently they are making enough off of vanity plates. Formally there was paper work to file at least six months in advance. Now it is just a simple matter of renewing the plate annually. :)

[K4EAK]

Skip from LaGrange GA. Hmmm? Why does that seem so familiar, me being right up the road in Fayetteville?

Wade -- you're right, we're almost neighbors (50 miles or so). I'm not at the hamshack, so I can't check the the log, but maybe we've bumped into each other on the air? Also, I've worked from time to time on various small aspects of the Georgia QSO Party, and my club administers the "Worked All Georgia" Award. (Further information here: WAG (http://www.lagrangeradioclub.org/wag/).)

73 Skip K4EAK

[W7PSK]

Washington State its only $5 above your normal fees. I have not done it yet. But been thinking about it.

More is the hassle because you have to fill the form and take 2 copies of your Ham License to the License office down town. Then once they give blessings and give you a temp to paste to your window, you take the whole pile and mail it into Olympia and await your new plates.

[One Country Boy]

In Florida we used to have to pay a dollar or maybe $2 extra. Now days it's like a special order or vanity tag. I have one and run it on the motor home but not sure I'll order another.

[SoCalRVer]

Once you register and get your FRN, is it possible to use a P.O.Box and not have your residence listed on the FCC site? Or once it's listed it's always their on their site or archives?

[NN5I]

In order to have a US ham license, you need a US mailing address. It is unnecessary to use a street address even when first getting a license. I've used a POB for my ham license for most of the last five-and-a-half decades. In the distant past, when operator and station licenses were separate, you needed a street address on the station license. Nowadays you don't need a street address and don't even have to be a citizen.

I don't think the FCC keeps much of an archive, but of course every address you've used will be in the Callbook for those years (no longer published) and in such things as the QRZ CDs or the Ham Call CDs for those years. I think both of those are still published, and many hams keep back issues.

The reason I don't think FCC keeps much of an archive is that they have no record of my first license (issued in July 1957), so even QCWA thinks I'm a newcomer, a greenhorn first licensed in 1958, 'cuz that's the first Callbook I appeared in.

[wa8yxm]

Under the Michigan law however if you opt for the Ham Callsign plate there cost is very low (compared to regular vaniety plates) and is only charged when a new plate is pressed.

HOWEVER, your name and address are given both to the county sheriff and to the director of the Mnichigan State Police and the call-sign plate application includes an aggrement to provide emergency communications should you be called upon.

Actually heppened to me one time. (I'm 62 ytears old got licenesed at 16)( spent the night in a park next to a bunch of aircraft parts.

[Radio]

And that's that.

Tomorrow the ham radio tag comes off the truck and goes up on the wall in the shack. A radio callsign has been following me around from back there for better than 20 years.

No more.

I can save $350 over the next ten years without running the plates. That's enough to pick up something really nice at a ham fest.

Getting the new tag required an emissions test, lots of money, and all had to be done today after work and before 5:00 pm as tomorrow is my birthday and they fine you for being late on the tags. So I'm already copping an attitude.

The final straw was the lady asked for a copy of my ham license, which I did not have with me. So I said, "Nevermind, give me a regular plate and my $35 back." And she did.

I guess there is some advantage to NOT advertising your call. And the plate will look great on the hamshack wall. If I pull the one off the front I can increase airflow to the tranny cooler.

We came a long way from no $20 plate fee to $20 plus $35 status tag fee. That's a $55 swing. Just can't do that. ($20 would be reasonable) And the contract between be and the State of Georgia where they can use my vehicle and radio equipment in case of emergency, in exchange for a free radio tag, is dissolved.

But the taxes on the trailer and truck are good for another year.

[N3LYT]

I agree that is ridicules great revenue for the state but how about a break for the hams that support ARES for starters and weather watches or the ever present communications for public events? I can understand the one time printing it does require a certain amount of labor to get it printed instead of a numerical run but the tag stays with the car/truck for the life of the tag it’s just a number. I agree with a fee for a plain vanity tag “cntdrv55” “pb4ulv” it is what it is a vanity tag but hams work for the state free of charge. You probably have the right ideal one years’ worth and hang it on the wall cheaper than getting someone to make one for you.

[Dizzy-Dick]

I have my ham radio plates on my Jeep Liberty and it is always towed behind the RV on all trips.

[wa8yxm]

In Texas, a "Texas Radio Operator" plate is $2. Just enough to cover the cost of the plate. You can put the same number on all of your vehicles.
Doc

Now one of the things I've been trying to decide is what state to move to a a full time RVer. The post following yours was "Too many people know where to go to find a home address" does not bother me because the address on my license is a shoebox (Well it is a metal box with a lock on the door behind a locked door in a very well built building with excellent security) it's not where my radios live. And the ability to put the same plate on both house and towed car... That may just end up being the deciding factor!!!

Thank you

I'm not sure till next week what the fee is here in MI for ham plates but like Texas.. You only pay when you get a new plate, not for renewal tabs... I'm going to see what happens since I have the plate.. Just "Inactive" due to not having a car to bolt it to for the last few years.

[K.Regester]

I am also in GA and not required to have front plate. Took my old GA HAM plate, scraped all the decals and mounted on front of the TV. I have gotten a few funny double takes from the police but they haven't stopped me yet.

[wa8yxm]

In Michigan I pay $2.00 when they make a new plate for me.... Had to do that last December,,, I renewed the plates on my new car and it )@!#$ SOS clerk gave me the right paperwork,,,, but the WRONG COLOR tab (2014 insead of 2015) I know why it happened,, Motor home is 2014, Car a month later is 2015... Motor home is in wife's name.

So I sent in the "New" reg (one copy which clearly showed both the proper year of expiration AND the year tab they gave me) and $2.00 and got new callsign plates.

[NN5I]

In Michigan I pay $2.00 when they make a new plate for me.... Had to do that last December,,, I renewed the plates on my new car and it )@!#$ SOS clerk gave me the right paperwork,,,, but the WRONG COLOR tab (2014 insead of 2015) I know why it happened,, Motor home is 2014, Car a month later is 2015... Motor home is in wife's name.

So I sent in the "New" reg (one copy which clearly showed both the proper year of expiration AND the year tab they gave me) and $2.00 and got new callsign plates.

That is all profoundly unclear. Can't make head or tail of it. Can you make it a little clearer?

[electricflyer]

Once you register and get your FRN, is it possible to use a P.O.Box and not have your residence listed on the FCC site? Or once it's listed it's always their on their site or archives?

P.O. Box is just fine. You can run but you can't hide. Many famous people with big egos like to hide their address that way. I have one about 10 miles north of me, a country music hall of fame bass guitar player married to a famous country music singer. He and his wife gave up their ham license 6 or 7 years ago but he got a new license and is a General again. Travis Tritt lives about 5 miles from me and his name is on his front gate, but then he isn't a ham, radio operator I should say, either. Jamie "James" Dupree, NS3T, a well known Fox radio reporter doesn't hide his address.

[dr carver]

Got my tags renewed yesterday, one of which is my ham call tag that I've had for years. I asked the clerk how much of the fee was for the ham tag vs a regular tag. She looked it up and it was $1.50 difference. If memory serves, there was a $10.00 or so fee when I first got the tag, then replacements were the same as a normal tag and they came in the mail. This is in Clay County, Florida: your mileage may vary!

[wa8yxm]

There is a different section (I think) that applies to Amateur Call plates in MI. as part of the application you agree to assist in the event of a communications emergency.. And your registration info (Name/address/call) are sent to both the county sheriff and the director of the Michigan State Police so they can call upon you in the aforementioned event.

Of course, in all the years I have been licensed (Rapidly approaching 50) Only once have I ever responded to a communications emergency, and that was optional and in a county other than the one I lived in (Which at that time should not have happened.. or rather I could not be required... It is a 3-county issue,, The county it was in refused (Emergency Manager said "NO" so they applied to the county next door, Since I lived one mile out of that county on the incoming storm path I registered with RACES there, they called me)

[Radio]

There is a different section (I think) that applies to Amateur Call plates in MI. as part of the application you agree to assist in the event of a communications emergency.. And your registration info (Name/address/call) are sent to both the county sheriff and the director of the Michigan State Police so they can call upon you in the aforementioned event.

That essentially was the agreement with the State of Georgia. You get a free plate with your call (but you still pay all the taxes) The radio call plate identifies you at the scene of an emergency as a legitimate radio operator, and you are volunteering your time and equipment in a time of need. It was never a vanity plate. The plate should not cost me $55 per vehicle.

Thus, the agreement between myself and the State of Georgia is hereby dissolved.

But the local ARES folks are really nice so I'll still help out with that.

[W3TLN]

Pennsylvania $11 one time fee.
http://www.irv2.com/attachments/photopost/data/500/DSC06936sm.JPG

[NN5I]

Now one of the things I've been trying to decide is what state to move to a a full time RVer.

You want to find a state that you can move to an RVer? Now that's ambitious. Most of us want to move the RVer to the state, not move the state to the RVer. Deign to accept admiration for such noble ambition.

[wa8yxm]

Sadly.. It looks like I may be moving to Georgia (The original post in this thread) for a while... So this thread got a lot more interesting.

[NN5I]

Took my old GA HAM plate, scraped all the decals and mounted on front of the TV.

Doesn't that make it kind of hard to watch Seinfeld reruns?

[Mr. Ham]

I live in Pennsylvania, in Pennsylvania there is a fee for the vanity plate + the regular plate fee - charged when you get the vanity plate. You can keep the plate on the vehicle until it wears out and then you have to pay for another plate.

It does you no good to have a vanity plate here.
There are no real hams within 50 road miles of my house.
The people that are hams - are usually found on some rag chew net on the Hf, such as the Rooster Net in the morning, You have to check in X amount of times and then you have to crow like a rooster while standing on a chair to be accepted into the group. Sometimes they make you crow several times until they get a crow they like..
At night they check into the SubBelt Net or some other dumb net.

Conversations are mostly personal and done on simplex - so no repeater owner throws them off the repeater. The clubs are clique's and the people only uses their walkie talkie sparingly once a week at the club net to give their no traffic and then turn their handheld back off so they don't kill their batteries..

You can call CQ on 146.520 until your face turns blue - even out on I 80 and no one will come back to you.. Everyone is too busy screwing other people, making money, screwing other hams - feuds, and talking on their cell phones or checking into nets on the HF to be bothered with the FM....

I actually stopped in at a hams house and asked him what his big antenna's were for and what the letters and numbers were for on his license plate. When he told me he was a ham, I screwed with him and asked him if that was some type of CB radio.
He didn't have a real good answer, he just said that he and his wife were both hams and that they operated simplex - mostly 6 meters or 40 meters when he worked construction. Then when he retired, he didn't have any reason to talk anymore - because he never really talked to anyone other then the local group and his wife.

When I shook his hand and said - oh, by the way, my name is XXX and my call sign is CCXCC - he just about crapped his pants..
I didn't get an invite to come back and I didn't get an invite to come into his house and see his shack.. He grew up in the same small town I live in and grew up and went to school with my parents in the 40's and 50's and went to the same catholic school..

I think that the days of people being proud that they are hams is over.
Most of them are only out for themselves and the other ones got their license after the code requirement and or by illicit means and so the license doesn't mean that much to them. They use it when it is convenient - like a telephone and the rest of the time they don't even turn their radio on.. Some - their wives don't let them have radios in the house or antenna's in the yard, or on their vehicles - so all they have is the handheld...

[Radio]

- oh, by the way, my name is XXX and my call sign is CCXCC...

Mr. Ham welcome aboard Open Roads Radio.net. :welcome:

We're a pretty friendly laid back bunch. BTW, a name and call would be nice.

Thanks

[Mr. Ham]

There is no mutual aid asked for or given by hams in the state of Pennsylvania.
In rural Pennsylvania most everything emergency related is done by the volunteer firemen and the REACT people.
The REACT people would make good hams, but they sometimes get paid to do civic functions such as bicycle races, marathons, activities in the park, parking cars at the high school for football games.
Because they have a pecuniary interest they cannot use amateur radio, not even simplex when they are being paid, and several of the locals all had their license when there was a incentive license and code requirement - they couldn't pass the code to get the upgrade and were stuck at the Novice level.
Since there was no VE test sessions in my area, there was no way for them to upgrade other then travel 20 - 50 miles one way to take the test.

When there is a disaster, the local ARES group has been turned away and the big boys from Pittsburgh were brought up to handle the communications locally.

The county will NOT let the local hams use their communications trailer - since the county emergency coordinator is a volunteer fireman and the trailer is parked at his fire station.
Other counties are given the use of the trailer for special events and have access to the county Emergency Operations Center.

The local group - Quad County am radi club was thrown out of the Clearfield EOC. So there is no local mutual aid or desire to work with the clubs.

The local club signed a letter with the American Red Cross and then when there was a flood - twice now in the last two years, they were not called to assist. The government people says that as long as the county radio system and the cell towers still works, they don't need ARES or RACES.

Because no one practices - when there is a real emergency, no one knows what to do or even if they can use their handheld to talk simplex back to the EOC - which they cannot without the aid of the repeaters.

The repeaters were taken over by the WAN people - wide area network, so the chatter on the repeater can be anyone from anywhere in the world - voip. The last disaster we had, there was some bung hole from the Pocono's asking how things were going and jamming up emergency communications.

It was just some lonely bung hole with a handheld that could hit his one linked repeater that was looking for someone to talk to and didn't understand that we had a bad storm and didn't have time to talk to him.
Hurricane Sandy knocked out power to most of the area for 10 days and blew down many trees and knocked out landline telephone communications.
I did not have a working landline for 14 days!

Ham radio was the easiest way for us to communicate and call for help when needed. The gas station could not pump gas - because they had no electric, the telephone company could not get reports of outages - because the telephones did not work and they did not maintain the lines. The state police could not use their Open Sky because their internet wouldn't work.

Their Intranet did work, it was RF linked, but there was many outages due to poles being knocked over and trees knocking the antenna's off the poles.

[NN5I]

I actually stopped in at a hams house and asked him what his big antenna's were for and what the letters and numbers were for on his license plate. When he told me he was a ham, I screwed with him and asked him if that was some type of CB radio ...

When I shook his hand and said - oh, by the way, my name is XXX and my call sign is CCXCC ... I didn't get an invite to come back and I didn't get an invite to come into his house ...

You behaved that way to a stranger -- at his house! -- and then you were surprised that he didn't invite you in?

[Mr. Ham]

Some people - are hams in license only.
They got a license for a specific reason - they wanted to be able to talk to a certain person and there was no cell phones 40 years ago, so they got a license, bought some radios and used it like a telephone.

40 years ago - many of the people that I call real hams - were still on the air.
Not that they were actual real hams, but that they had to know a little more back then to become licensed and they had to do a little more to keep their license.

The guy went to school with my parents, he knew my family, he grew up in the same little coal mining town as I did. He could have been a real asset to the local hams that came along after he did, if he would have gotten involved in amateur radio - beyond just doing it for his own benefit.

I grew up thinking that someone involved in electronics was a person that wore a white collar shirt with a pencil protector and a slide rule in their pocket. I came to find out that radio involves carpentry, masonry, electrical construction, engineering, having to have the ability to climb towers, install antenna's, and understanding the engineering side of radio.

A person with a backhoe and a cement mixer and some carpentry skills can be your best friend when it comes to putting up towers and installing beam antenna's.

Making yourself and your equipment available to new hams should be one part of amateur radio that should be expected of a person that is a licensed ham. 50 years ago - there were not a lot of hams, maybe 300,000 license hams, and the people that were involved in amateur radio were educated people and the pillars of the community.

It is my belief that these people purposely gave 11 meters to the General Public to keep them from becoming hams.
If you look at history from this perspective and the amount of 11 meter equipment in this world, had they opened the flood gate 50 years ago and left everyone into amateur radio they way they did CB radio we would have millions of licensed amateurs in the USA today and we wouldn't have a quiet place to talk - because all of the bands would be active with people trying to talk. The 3 watt AM / 12 watt SSB was a limitation placed on them to keep them on a more local scale.

Had the government allowed them up to 1500 watts transmit power, there would be no market for illegal transmitters and amplifiers in the 11 meters world today and most of the people that operates illegally on 11 meters today would have just went ahead and gotten the amateur radio license and been done with it.

To have a whole yard full of large beam antenna's and then not talk on them to me would be like buying a fine bottle of wine and then not drinking it, or buying a sports car and not driving it.

Anyone would be envious to have even just one of this guys antenna's and towers that he has in his yard.

[Mr. Ham]

There has been a upsurge of out of town people coming into my town, both to attend college and to sell drugs.
For some reason, most electronics depreciates with time / computers, televisions, radios, cell phones. But Hams tends to try to get as much as or more then what they paid for their radio - out of their radio when they try to sell it 10 - 20 years later.
I would be afraid that if the drug addicts found out that amateur radios are very expensive and commands a high resale price that they would target a person with antenna's on the roof and a amateur radio license plate.

All the more reason not to get a amateur radio license plate!

[NN5I]

Yes; many hams are a bit unrealistic that way. Of course, some really old equipment sells nowadays for much more than it cost new. Bought any like-new Hammarlund stuff lately?

It's not just ham gear, of course. I collect Post Versalog slide rules, which exist in several variations, some rarer than others. Last month I happily paid $40 for a Versalog that originally sold for much less in 1951. It has a date code in the second month of production (July 1951) and is in absolutely new and perfect condition including the case, original box, and instruction book, which is still wrapped in the original protective paper -- the whole package is store-bought new.

Anybody wanna buy a brand-new-looking IC-R7000 receiver at a high price, with original box, manual, and service manual? It's an IC-R7000, not an IC-7000.

Rats, I was afraid not.

[ChuckW5KAV]

Wow

I don't run amateur plate's to much BS here in Washington state
and the money for the plates goes everyplace but what it is
meant for Ugh....I will say that in out local area the Fire departments
all have Dual band amateur radio's on their buildings with nice antenna's,
Ninety percent of the local fireman are amateurs (over 30), a few of
the police as well are amateurs as well. The Local police dept. support
ARES amateur operators and have a real nice station within the EOC, the
ARES operators can and have operated/drive the emergency communication
vans, high water vehicle's on a regular base's. The ARES group drill twice
a month, these are not coffee and cookie meetings, members are deployed
thought-out the city with differant drills, such as earth quakes, floods,
trail derailments in all types of weather.

Maybe people don't know in Goverment agencies such as the counties, city or
state get paid for man ours in a disaster for volinteers. Our EC is required to
send in ARES hours into the city each month, these hours are put in a report
with all the other man hours put in by city works and sent forward for funding.

[wa8yxm]

Re Reading thius thread.... I mentioned that I only pay a couple of dollars extra when we get new steel.. But my 2001 Dodge Neon was like 54 dollars plus a 2.00 processing fee (At SOS, which is our DMV if you ask "What time is it" there is a 2.00 processing fee, or so I joke) so I payd 56 dollars, A buck more than Id pay in GA (Humm, I am considering an official move if I can work it out). The motor home is 380*2.00 or $382.00 total. (OUCH).