[SFDXA] ARRL Member Bulletin for October 1, 2025

[Bill]

ARRL Member Bulletin for October 1, 2025


	

October 1, 2025




*Amateur Radio Licensing Update During US Government Shutdown*

The ARRL Volunteer Examiner Coordinator, ARRL VEC, wants members to know 
that we are closely following the impact of the US Government shutdown 
on licensing for the Amateur Radio Service.

The government shutdown began at 12:01 Eastern time on Wednesday, 
October 1, 2025, when Congress had not passed an appropriations bill or 
other plan to keep the government funded for the new fiscal year (begins 
October 1).

The Federal Communications Commission, which issues Amateur Radio 
Service licenses, issued a Public Notice 
<https://arrl.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT0zNDUwNzQ2JnA9MSZ1PTUyNTQ3MzY2NCZsaT0zOTkyNzI2Mw/index.html> 
on Tuesday, September 30, indicating that it would suspend most 
operations following a shutdown. “Aside from a few emergency and auction 
filing systems, all other Commission electronic filing systems will be 
unavailable to the public until normal agency operations resume,” said 
the FCC Notice.

ARRL VEC Manager Maria Somma, AB1FM, said the FCC systems appeared to go 
off-line around 1 PM Eastern time, and are redirecting to the Public 
Notice. This means the FCC will not be processing any amateur radio 
license applications during the shutdown, which includes individual, 
club, and exam session (new and upgrade) applications.

“But ARRL Volunteer Examiners should continue giving exam sessions,” 
said Somma. “Keep doing what you’re doing. Keep serving new and upgrade 
candidates for amateur radio licenses.” Somma also urged that Volunteer 
Examiners continue to promptly forward session results from their exams 
to the ARRL VEC.

“Please do not hold your session results. Send your sessions to us, and 
ARRL VEC will continue to queue all applications as they are received. 
Once the federal government reopens, ARRL VEC will promptly resume 
submitting applications to the FCC for processing. So, keep sending 
sessions to the ARRL VEC.”

The FCC Notice indicates that the CORES registration system will remain 
available to the public and will not be affected by the shutdown. Exam 
candidates can still register in CORES and be assigned an FCC 
Registration Number (FRN) at *https://apps.fcc.gov/cores/userLogin.do 
<https://arrl.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT0zNDUwNzQ2JnA9MSZ1PTUyNTQ3MzY2NCZsaT0zOTkyNzI2NA/index.html>*. 
The FCC's Universal Licensing System (ULS 
<https://arrl.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT0zNDUwNzQ2JnA9MSZ1PTUyNTQ3MzY2NCZsaT0zOTkyNzI2NQ/index.html>) 
databases are currently unavailable to the public. ULS and related 
systems (like the License Manager, License Search, Application Search, 
etc.) are not accessible during the shutdown. Users cannot file 
applications with the FCC, or access license data, including address 
information.

To find an amateur radio exam session, please visit 
*www.arrl.org/find-an-exam 
<https://arrl.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT0zNDUwNzQ2JnA9MSZ1PTUyNTQ3MzY2NCZsaT0zOTkyNzI2Ng/index.html>*. 
For a list of VE Teams that offer Online Exam Sessions, go to 
*www.arrl.org/online-exam-session 
<https://arrl.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT0zNDUwNzQ2JnA9MSZ1PTUyNTQ3MzY2NCZsaT0zOTkyNzI2Nw/index.html>*. 


*Pass The Bill*

As a reminder, ARRL is continuing to collect letters from EVERY HAM as 
part of our grassroots campaign to pass the Amateur Radio Emergency 
Preparedness Act 
<https://arrl.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT0zNDUwNzQ2JnA9MSZ1PTUyNTQ3MzY2NCZsaT0zOTkyNzI2OQ/index.html>. 
The legislation is intended to prevent restrictive homeowners’ 
association (HOA) rules that currently prohibit or severely limit the 
installation of amateur radio antennas. Send your letters now at 
*www.arrl.org/HOA 
<https://arrl.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT0zNDUwNzQ2JnA9MSZ1PTUyNTQ3MzY2NCZsaT0zOTkyNzI2OQ/index.html>*. 




Copyright © 2025 American Radio Relay League, Incorporated. Use and 
distribution of this publication, or any portion thereof, is permitted 
for non-commercial or educational purposes, with attribution. All other 
purposes require written permission.

	


	

ARRL The National Association for Amateur Radio®

	

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