Joe Kao, N6KAO, Waiting Since Sept. 2007

my name is joe, n6kao. i am too a victim of the "space in ham callsign license plate". when i received my plate in late jan, i thought dmv made a mistake by adding a space. later i found out from a lady in special plate unit in sacramento that dmv purposely put the space in, then decided to remove it due to compliants from ham operators statewide.

just a quick history of my journey....

late sept 07 - went to dmv and applied for a ham callsign plate. they took my original plate away and gave me a red sticker to put on window (temporary registration).

mid nov 07 - received registration paper and sticker, but no plate.

late nov 07 - temp reg expiring and still didn't receive plate. went back to dmv for temp reg extensiono. i was told the order didn't go in system until late oct.

late jan 08 - received the plates (with space). went back to dmv and reordered another plate. local dmv officals had no idea why a space was inserted within callsign.

late feb 08 - again, found out the order didn't go into system until 1 month after initial inquiry.

mid mar 08 - received registration with sticker, but no plate.

currently i am still waiting for my plate to come. in feb when i found out from the dmv's special plate unit about the decision to remove space from callsign, i went online and found your blog entry.

my current temp tag is about to expire. i am about to go back to dmv and request for another extension for my temp reg.

it has been a frustrating experience so far. i've gone to dmv many times to get extension on the temp registration. i even asked them to give me as far out as possible, but local dmv office was reluctant to give out more than 2 months. after arguing with a manager, finally i was able to get 3 months temp registration.

thanks for reading.

joe

n6kao

David Towle, W6VNQ's Corrected Plate, 3-11-08

David Towle, W6VNQ's corrected plate.

Another Ham Stopped by Cops, K6PIC

Cliff,

Thank you so much for your efforts in getting the word out about the "Space" in the ham radio callsign license plate issue. I first noticed the extra space when I got my registration renewed in December and was slightly concerned but I've always known there was an issue of the plates being mistaken as "peronalized plates" by law enforcement when they call in for a 10-28.
In the past even renewing my registration at the DMV took some effort. They once had to call two supervisors over to finally figure out how to look up my vehicle in the computer. Seemed back then the addition of an astrik infront of the callsign would do a search and they would find it. It seems idiotic to think by adding a space they would solve if not complicate even further the whole issue. In the past especially when paying parking tickets I've alway put the astrick infront of the callsign hoping if they got confused that it would help them find my registration record.

Last night (March 3rd/4th, 2008) on my way home from work I was stopped by the police whom I assume had done a rolling 10-28 on my plate and they asked me all sorts of questions. First was if it was my vehicle. Then if I had just got it from a salvage yard. Then how long I had owned it. Then they told me there was no record of my vehicle in the computer database. They asked to see my registration which I produced and I pointed out it was a HAM Amateur Radio type 61 plate and suggested they should try the *. After waiting something like 10 minutes they came back and told me they still had no record of my vehicle and that I needed to clear it up with the DMV. She even said that the dispatcher whom she spoke with at the communication center had worked there 20 years and had no idea what it was or why it wasn't coming up. In my experience from visiting the com center in my county I found that a lot of the dispatcers are themselves hams and it was somewhat disturbing to be told I had to "fix" this discrepancy with the DMV.

If you have any sort of emailing list regarding this issue and the greater side issue of being stopped by the police please add my email kd6ixg@hotmail.com to the list. THANK YOU AGAIN for your effort to inform the greater ham community of this issue.

K6PIC

Christopher James Knight

1 of the 1st Corrected Plates, Cindy Engel, DVM, KA7UIA

[Editor's Note - Dr. Cindy Engel, DVM, KA7UIA of Santa Barbara was the first to give us a .jpeg of her corrected plate. We heard the other week that a northern Calif. ham got his. We reached out to him but he did not respond].