Subj : Classes And Exams (C) To : All From : Daryl Stout Date : Thu Jul 16 2020 06:18 pm (CONTINUED FROM LAST MESSAGE) Volunteer Examiners =================== Years ago, to take an amateur radio license exam, you had to usually travel a long distance to an FCC Field Office. The Volunteer Examiner Coordinator (VEC) program and groups were created in 1982. Volunteer Examiners (VE's), accredited by the respective VEC, began testing in 1984, and have been administering ham radio license exams ever since. Now, in most cases, there is a license exam available in your area...or nearby...on either a weekly, monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly, or even an "on demand" basis. The amount of advance notice required will vary with each VE Team, but for teams that I work with in central Arkansas, please give at least 24 to 48 hours notice, so a VE Team, and a location can be obtained, that will be suitable to the examinee, and the VE Team. The best time to do an exam is on evenings or most likely on weekends...usually on a Saturday. Any Amateur Radio Operator holding a valid General, Advanced, or Amateur Extra Class license, is eligible to apply to be a VE...as long as they are at least 18 years of age, their license has never been suspended or revoked, and there is not a question about the amateur radio operators "integrity" as a Volunteer Examiner. Speaking of which, integrity of the exam sessions is a huge part, as the VE's basically are putting their own licenses on the line. According to Part 97 of the FCC Rules...if a VE team, or individual VE, administers or certifies an exam by fraudulent means, they could lose BOTH their VE accreditation, and their ham radio licenses FOR LIFE...and the examinee may have to re-take the exam elements in question...either before another VE Team, or before the FCC itself, as noted later in this bulletin. The VE team is to TERMINATE the test session of any examinee, who is caught CHEATING, or if they fail to comply with the instructions of the VE team. Should this occur, the exam will be marked as FAILED, and the cheater will be ordered to leave the premises. This could also affect their ability in the future to attempt to test at another license exam. A prospective VE must go through the accreditation process. For the ARRL/VEC, it's an OPEN BOOK TEST, that you take at your leisure. When done, you return the test sheet to the ARRL for processing...which takes 3 to 6 weeks. The prospective VE *MUST* have either a valid General, Advanced, or Amateur Extra Class license *IN HAND*, or in the FCC database (such as on www.qrz.com) BEFORE applying to become a VE. ARRL VE Accreditation is free. There are other VEC groups, and their accreditation processes may be different. Once accredited, the following tests may be administered: VE/Ham License Class: Amateur Radio Exam That May Be Given: Novice NONE -- not eligible to become a VE. Technician NONE -- not eligible to become a VE. General Technican Class Exam ONLY. Advanced Technician or General Class Exam ONLY. Amateur Extra ANY exam (Technician, General, or Amateur Extra). Note: It is REQUIRED that 3 VE's be at an exam session...preferably 4 or more...in case the team has to test in one room, and grade in another...or if a VE has to step out of the room for a short time. It is also preferred that the MAJORITY of the team include a MINIMUM of 3 Amateur Extra Class licensees. That way, all exams can be given, as noted below. On June 9, 2014, the FCC issued a "Report And Order" (R&O) in response to a previously issued Notice Of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), which sought comments on revising the exam procedures. The following changes to exam sessions took effect on July 21, 2014: 1) A holder of a General, Advanced, or Amateur Extra Class license which is EXPIRED MORE THAN 2 YEARS, can get back into the hobby, by passing Element 2 (the Technician Class exam) at a license exam session. The examinee will still have to provide proper identification (listed elsewhere in this bulletin/message thread), provide proof of the prior amateur radio license, provide their Social Social Security Number (if a Federal Registration Number is not on the expired license), and pay the appropriate test fee. Upon passing the Technician Exam, they will be granted a Certificate Of Successful Completion Of Examination (CSCE) for the license they held, if it was a General or Extra Class license. However, Advanced Class licensees are DOWNGRADED to General, since those licenses are no longer issued. In any case, these licensees will be issued a NEW CALLSIGN about 10 to 14 days after the exam session. Once they have their new callsign, they can apply for their old callsign under the Vanity Callsign system, but there is a possibility that their former callsign will have since been re-assigned to another amateur radio operator, once the original license had lapsed (it had been more than 2 years since its expiration). 2) The valid time on a CSCE REMAINS at 365 calender days. The FCC DECLINED a proposal for "lifetime CSCE credit". If one receives a CSCE on July 1 in a non-leap year, that CSCE expires at 12 midnight local time on June 30 of the following year. If the CSCE is issued on July 1 of a leap year, the CSCE expires at 12 midnight on June 29 of the following year. One does NOT need a CSCE to prove they took and passed a Morse Code Test...as the Morse Code requirement was ELIMINATED from the U.S. Amateur Radio License Requirements as of Feb. 23, 2007. 3) The number of VE's required to proctor a session REMAINS at 3. The FCC noted that the ARRL, the W5YI-VEC, and a large number of commenters were AGAINST reducing the number from 3 to 2...because with 3 examiners, it "increases the rate of accuracy and integrity, and reduces the chances of fraud". 4) Created the capability for "remote exam sessions", with at least one certified VE present, with the capability of monitoring, grading, and certifying the exams through the internet. This is especially true in remote locations, such as Alaska, Anarctica, etc. In these areas, examinees are lucky to have an exam session either twice a year, or even quarterly. The actual mechanics of the session "will vary from session to session, and from location to location"...noting that setting such could limit the flexibility of VE's and VEC's. However, the rule for "administering exams responsibility" is in force, whether for remote tests or not. 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