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

[Bill]

 From Jeff WA4AW:


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

**
06/10/2014
In a wide-ranging /Report and Order/ (/*R&O* 
<http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2014/db0609/FCC-14-74A1.pdf>/) 
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. TheNational 
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.