[Alexandria Radio Club Reflector] FCC Okays Changes to Amateur Radio Exam Credit, Test Administration, Emission Type Rules

[Don Lewis (KI4D)]

This seems to be big news from the FCC: "Our decision to grant credit for
written examination Elements 3 and 4 for expired licenses that required
passage [of those elements] will provide some relief for former General,
Advanced, and Amateur Extra class licensees," the FCC said.  Even if a
license expiration has gone past two years, all you have to do is pass
Element 2 to get credit for previously passed Elements 3 or 4 to get
relicensed. 

 

Don, KI4D

 

http://www.arrl.org/news/view/fcc-okays-changes-to-amateur-radio-exam-credit
-test-administration-emission-type-rules

 


FCC Okays Changes to Amateur Radio Exam Credit, Test Administration,
Emission Type Rules


06/10/2014 

In a wide-ranging Report and Order (
<http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2014/db0609/FCC-14-
74A1.pdf> R&O) released June 9 that takes various proceedings into
consideration, the FCC has revised the Amateur Service Part 97 rules to
grant credit for written examination elements 3 (General) and 4 (Amateur
Extra) to holders of "expired licenses that required passage of those
elements." The FCC will require former licensees - those falling outside the
2-year grace period - to pass Element 2 (Technician) in order to be
relicensed, however. The Commission declined to give examination credit to
the holder of an expired Certificate of Successful Completion of Examination
(CSCE) or to extend its validity to the holder's lifetime.

"Our decision to grant credit for written examination Elements 3 and 4 for
expired licenses that required passage [of those elements] will provide some
relief for former General, Advanced, and Amateur Extra class licensees," the
FCC said, "and is consistent with how we treat expired pre-1987 Technician
class licensees who want to reenter the Amateur Service." Pre-1987 Techs can
get Element 3 credit, since the Technician and General class written
examinations in that era were identical. The Commission said current rules
and procedures that apply to expired pre-1987 Technician licenses "are
sufficient to verify that an individual is a former licensee under our new
rules."

The Commission said that requiring applicants holding expired licenses to
pass Element 2 in order to relicense "will address commenters' concerns
about lost proficiency and knowledge, because a former licensee will have to
demonstrate that he or she has retained knowledge of technical and
regulatory matters." The FCC said the Element 2 requirement also would deter
any attempts by someone with the same name as a former licensee to obtain a
ham ticket without examination.

In 1997 the FCC, in the face of opposition, dropped a proposal that would
have generally allowed examination element credit for expired amateur
operator licenses. In the past, the FCC has maintained that its procedures
"provide ample notification and opportunity for license renewal" and that
retesting did not impose an unreasonable burden. The issue arose again in
2011, with a request from the Anchorage Volunteer Examiner Coordinator.

The FCC pulled back from its own proposal to reduce from three to two the
minimum number of volunteer examiners required to proctor an Amateur Radio
examination session. The ARRL, the W5YI-VEC and "a clear majority of
commenters" opposed the change, the FCC said. The FCC said it found
commenters' arguments persuasive that that the use of three VEs "results in
higher accuracy and lower fraud that would be the case with two VEs." In a
related matter, though, the Commission embraced the use of remote testing
methods.

"Allowing VEs and VECs the option of administering examinations at locations
remote from the VEs is warranted," the FCC said. The National Conference of
Volunteer Examiner Coordinators (NCVEC) in 2002 endorsed experimental use of
videoconferencing technology to conduct Amateur Radio testing in remote
areas of Alaska. The Anchorage VEC has long pushed for the change, citing
the expense to provide Amateur Radio test sessions to Alaska residents
living in remote areas.

The FCC declined to address "the mechanics" of remote testing, which, it
said, "will vary from location to location and session to session." The
Commission said specific rules spelling out how to administer exam sessions
remotely "could limit the flexibility of VEs and VECs." The FCC stressed the
obligation on the part of VECs and VEs "to administer examinations
responsibly" applies "in full" to remote testing.

The FCC amended the rules to provide that VEs administering examinations
remotely be required to grade such examinations "at the earliest practical
opportunity," rather than "immediately," as the rule for conventional exam
sessions requires.

Finally, the FCC has adopted an ARRL proposal to authorize certain Time
Division Multiple Access (TDMA) emissions in the Amateur Service. The
Wireless Telecommunications Bureau in 2013 granted an ARRL request for a
temporary blanket waiver to permit radio amateurs to transmit emissions with
designators FXD, FXE, and F7E, pending resolution of the rulemaking
petition.

"Commenters strongly support amendment of the rules to permit these
additional emission types," the FCC noted. "The commenters assert that the
proposed rule change 'is consistent with the basis and purpose of the
Amateur Service,'" and will allow repurposing surplus mobile relay equipment
from other radio services in the Amateur Service, the Commission added.

The FCC said it also will make "certain minor, non-substantive amendments to
the Amateur Service rules." It is amending Part 97 "to reflect that the
Commission amended its rules to eliminate the requirement that certain
Amateur Radio Service licensees pass a Morse code examination," the FCC said
in the R&O. It also said it was correcting "certain typographical or other
errors" in Part 97.

The new rules become effective 30 days after their publication in The
Federal Register, which is expected to happen this week.