Hi John,
The current situation does not work well at all. I cannot think of a single reason that would make anybody think so.
It may not surprise you to know that I am NOT in favour of a free licence! Without paying something, we cannot hold OFCOM to account for the poor job that they do. They cannot even get the ADSL providers to notch out the amateur bands which would be quite easy to do.AIUI, the ability is already in the specification and can be easily done. The minimum cost for a licence should be ?25 IMHO. That's 7p a day! That's so cheap after working out the daily cost I am sorely tempted to increase my minimum!
Nobody is forcing anybody to get a vanity callsign, so if somebody does not want one they just have to not bother. That is the case with car number plates and it brings in loads of money.
Cheers
