http:\/\/transition.fcc.gov\/Daily_Releases\/Daily_Business\/2014\/db0609\/FCC-14-74A1.pdf<\/span><\/span><\/a>
\n.<\/p>\n“Our decision to grant credit for written examination Elements 3 and
\n4 for expired licenses that required passage [of those elements]
\nwill provide some relief for former General, Advanced, and Amateur
\nExtra class licensees,” the FCC said, “and is consistent with how we
\ntreat expired pre-1987 Technician class licensees who want to
\nreenter the Amateur Service.” Pre-1987 Techs can get Element 3
\ncredit, since the Technician and General class written examinations
\nin that era were identical. The Commission said current rules and
\nprocedures that apply to expired pre-1987 Technician licenses “are
\nsufficient to verify that an individual is a former licensee under
\nour new rules.”<\/p>\n
The Commission said that requiring applicants holding expired
\nlicenses to pass Element 2 in order to relicense “will address
\ncommenters’ concerns about lost proficiency and knowledge, because a
\nformer licensee will have to demonstrate that he or she has retained
\nknowledge of technical and regulatory matters.” The FCC said the
\nElement 2 requirement also would deter any attempts by someone with
\nthe same name as a former licensee to obtain a ham ticket without
\nexamination.<\/p>\n
In 1997 the FCC, in the face of opposition, dropped a proposal that
\nwould have generally allowed examination element credit for expired
\namateur operator licenses. In the past, the FCC has maintained that
\nits procedures “provide ample notification and opportunity for
\nlicense renewal” and that retesting did not impose an unreasonable
\nburden. The issue arose again in 2011, with a request from the
\nAnchorage Volunteer Examiner Coordinator.<\/p>\n
The FCC pulled back from its own proposal to reduce from three to
\ntwo the minimum number of volunteer examiners required to proctor an
\nAmateur Radio examination session. The ARRL, the W5YI-VEC and “a
\nclear majority of commenters” opposed the change, the FCC said. The
\nFCC said it found commenters’ arguments persuasive that that the use
\nof three VEs “results in higher accuracy and lower fraud that would
\nbe the case with two VEs.” In a related matter, though, the
\nCommission embraced the use of remote testing methods.<\/p>\n
“Allowing VEs and VECs the option of administering examinations at
\nlocations remote from the VEs is warranted,” the FCC said. The
\nNational Conference of Volunteer Examiner Coordinators (NCVEC) in
\n2002 endorsed experimental use of videoconferencing technology to
\nconduct Amateur Radio testing in remote areas of Alaska. The
\nAnchorage VEC has long pushed for the change, citing the expense to
\nprovide Amateur Radio test sessions to Alaska residents living in
\nremote areas.<\/p>\n
The FCC declined to address “the mechanics” of remote testing,
\nwhich, it said, “will vary from location to location and session to
\nsession.” The Commission said specific rules spelling out how to
\nadminister exam sessions remotely “could limit the flexibility of
\nVEs and VECs.” The FCC stressed the obligation on the part of VECs
\nand VEs “to administer examinations responsibly” applies “in full”
\nto remote testing.<\/p>\n
The FCC amended the rules to provide that VEs administering
\nexaminations remotely be required to grade such examinations “at the
\nearliest practical opportunity,” rather than “immediately,” as the
\nrule for conventional exam sessions requires.<\/p>\n
Finally, the FCC has adopted an ARRL proposal to authorize certain
\nTime Division Multiple Access (TDMA) emissions in the Amateur
\nService. The Wireless Telecommunications Bureau in 2013 granted an
\nARRL request for a temporary blanket waiver to permit radio amateurs
\nto transmit emissions with designators FXD, FXE, and F7E, pending
\nresolution of the rulemaking petition.<\/p>\n
“Commenters strongly support amendment of the rules to permit these
\nadditional emission types,” the FCC noted. “The commenters assert
\nthat the proposed rule change ‘is consistent with the basis and
\npurpose of the Amateur Service,'” and will allow repurposing surplus
\nmobile relay equipment from other radio services in the Amateur
\nService, the Commission added.<\/p>\n
The FCC said it also will make “certain minor, non-substantive
\namendments to the Amateur Service rules.” It is amending Part 97 “to
\nreflect that the Commission amended its rules to eliminate the
\nrequirement that certain Amateur Radio Service licensees pass a
\nMorse code examination,” the FCC said in the R&O. It also said it
\nwas correcting “certain typographical or other errors” in Part 97.<\/p>\n
The new rules become effective 30 days after their publication in
\nThe Federal Register, which is expected to happen this week.<\/p>\n
Ernest Abel<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
FCC Okays Changes to Amateur Radio Exam Credit, Test Administration, Emission Type Rules In a wide-ranging Report and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":110,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-711","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cherrylandarc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cherrylandarc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cherrylandarc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherrylandarc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherrylandarc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=711"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cherrylandarc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":713,"href":"https:\/\/cherrylandarc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/711\/revisions\/713"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherrylandarc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cherrylandarc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}