4.7%
Source: www.arrl.org/fcc-license-counts
Getting Licensed
To pass the exam, you’ll need to do a little studying and there are plenty of opportunities to practice. Then you’ll take your exam, administered by volunteer hams who were also in your shoes once upon a time. After you pass, you’ll receive a call sign that is yours and yours alone: your radio name. Ready? Let’s go!
Studying the exam questions
ARRL (www.arrl.org) and other organizations publish study guides and manuals, some of which may be available through your local library. Also, online training and study guides are available. All of these use the actual questions that are on the test. Take advantage of these materials, and you’ll be ready to pass the exam on test day.
Taking your license exam
In the Olden Days, hams took their licensing tests at the nearest FCC office, which could be hundreds of miles away. I vividly remember making long drives to a government office building to take my exams along with dozens of other hams.
Today, although the FCC still grants the licenses, it no longer administers amateur radio licensing examinations. In the United States, these exams are given by volunteer examiners (VEs); some VEs even file the results with the FCC. This process enables you to get your license and call sign much faster than in the days when the FCC handled everything on paper.
In-person exam sessions are usually available a short drive away at a club, a school, or even a private home. Beginning in 2020, “fully remote” exam sessions can be conducted online and monitored by teams of VEs. Digital signatures and other state-of-the-art tools are used to insure the quality of the exam process.
Volunteer examiner coordinators
A volunteer examiner coordinator (VEC) organization takes responsibility for certifying and coordinating the volunteer examiners (VEs) who run the exam sessions. The VEC also processes FCC-required paperwork generated during the session. Each VEC maintains a list of VEs, upcoming exam sessions, and other resources for ham test-takers. It can also help you renew your license and change your address or name. There may be a small fee charged by the VEC to cover expenses of the volunteers and maintaining the exam program. As of mid-2020, the maximum fee was $15 to take an exam for any of the license tests.
The VEC with the most VEs is the group run by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL-VEC), but 13 other VECs are located around the United States. Some VECs, such as ARRL-VEC and W5YI-VEC, operate nationwide; others work in only a single region.
www.ncvec.org.
Volunteer examiners
VEs make the system run. Each exam requires three VEs to administer or proctor the session, certify that the test was conducted properly, and file the necessary information to process the exam results. VEs are responsible for all aspects of the testing process, including providing the meeting space and announcing the exam sessions. (For remote communities, exam sessions can be administered online by a VE team with local volunteers. This is discussed in Chapter 6.) If they incur any expenses, such as for supplies or facility rental, they’re allowed to keep up to $7 per person of the test fee; any left-over fees go to the VEC to cover its expenses.
VEs are authorized to administer license exams for the same class of license they hold themselves or for lower classes. A General class VE, for example, can administer Technician and General exams but not Amateur Extra exams. Extra class licensees can give exams for Amateur Extra, as well.
Receiving Your New Call Sign
Each license that the FCC grants comes with a very special thing: a unique call sign (call to hams). Your call sign certifies you have passed the licensing exam and gives you permission to construct and operate a station — a special privilege. If you’re a new licensee, you’ll get your call sign within a few days of taking your licensing exam.
Your call sign becomes your on-the-air identity, and if you’re like most hams, you may change call signs once or twice before settling on the one you want to keep. Sometimes, your call sign starts taking over your off-the-air identity; you may become something like Ward NØAX, using your call sign in place of a last name. (I have to think really hard to remember the last names of some of my ham friends!)
