Information regarding FCC Rule changes
The FCC has revised the Amateur Service Part 97 rules to
grant partial written examination element credit to holders of expired General,
Advanced and Extra licenses. The new rules become effective 30 days after
their publication in The Federal Register, which is Monday July 21,
2014.
Expired license holders will NOT automatically
receive credit on that day and mayNOToperate as a new licensee.
The FCC requires former licensees — those falling outside
the 2-year grace period — to pass Element 2 (Technician) in order to be
relicensed.
To take advantage of the new rule, holders of expired
licenses must attend an exam session. There they would present a photo ID
and their expired license proof, pay the $15 exam session processing fee and
take the Technician exam.
If an applicant held a General or Advanced license, and
has proof, the FCC will afford credit for the General (Element 3) written exam
only. If an applicant held an Extra license, and has proof, the FCC will afford
credit for the General (Element 3) and Extra (Element 4) written exams. At VE
exam sessions it is the applicant (not the VEs or coordinating VEC) who is
responsible for supplying the evidence of holding valid expired license
credit. Acceptable forms of proof can be found on the Exam Element Credit
web page at http://www.arrl.org/exam-element-credit.
If sufficient proof is not presented, the candidate has
the option of taking the Tech exam and earning just a new Tech license and then
attending another exam session at a later date when they have the proper
documentation.
As always, the candidate will have to show a photo ID,
present the proof, pay the $15 exam session processing fee and fill out all
forms to receive the paper upgrade. The upgrade is not automatic and may NOT be
sent directly to the FCC or to the VEC by the candidate.
Expired licensees will not automatically get their old
call sign back. FCC will issue a new sequentially issued call sign. If they
desire to obtain their old call sign they may try to do so through the FCC
vanity call sign program. However, someone else may have already obtained their
old call sign as a vanity call sign and therefore it would not be
available.
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VE Teams -- How to Fill out Forms
At a session, the candidate must present a photo ID and
their expired license credit, pay the $15 test session fee and fill out the
NCVEC form 605. If the Element 2 written exam is passed and the expired
license proof is valid, the VE team will issue the candidate a CSCE for the
upgrade to a general or extra class license depending on the documentation
presented.
VE teams may continue to use the current CSCEs and
Candidate Rosters until we print new versions to include the expired license
credit. On the current CSCE indicate which (if any) elements were passed
by circling them. If no elements were passed at the session, cross out
all Exam Elements Earned on the form. Depending on which level of an
expired license is presented as proof, circle the New License Class Earned on
the CSCE.
On the current Candidate Roster you will indicate which
(if any) elements were passed or failed as you normally would. For
applicants that present expired licenses as credit you will write “CL” for
license credit in the appropriate column or columns (Element 3 and/or Element 4
column) depending on which level of an expired license is presented as
proof. Then fill in the License Earned at the session in that
column. An example of how to fill out the candidate roster can be found
on the website at http://www.arrl.org/files/file/VEs/Roster%202014%20Final.pdf
(page 2 of document).
This file also includes a sample of the new
Candidate Roster which if you prefer, you may print out and use at your exam
sessions.
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For your reference, we have created an easy to follow
Element Credit table to help you determine how to handle candidate’s at your
exam sessions.
Remember the burden of proof
falls on the candidate, not the VE team or the VEC.
|
ELEMENT
CREDIT TABLE
|
|
License
Class
|
Element
Credit Given
|
Exam to
Pass
|
License
Earned
|
|
Expired Novice
|
none
|
Element 2
|
Technician
|
|
Current Novice
|
none
|
Element 2
|
Technician
|
|
|
|
|
|
Expired Technician issued
3/21/1987 or LATER
|
none
|
Element 2
|
Technician
|
|
Expired Technician issued
BEFORE 3/21/1987
|
Element 3
|
Element 2
|
General
|
|
Current Technician issued
3/21/1987 or LATER
|
none
|
Element 3
|
General
|
|
Current Technician issued
BEFORE 3/21/1987
|
Element 3
|
none
|
General
|
|
Current Technician
with old expired
General
|
Elements 2
and 3
|
none
|
General
|
|
Current Technician
with old expired
Advanced
|
Elements 2
and 3
|
none
|
General
|
|
Current Technician
with old expired
Extra
|
Elements 2, 3
and 4
|
none
|
Extra
|
|
|
|
|
|
Expired General
|
Element 3
|
Element 2
|
General
|
|
Current General
|
Elements 2
and 3
|
Element 4
|
Extra
|
|
|
|
|
|
Expired Advanced
|
Element 3
|
Element 2
|
General
|
|
Current Advanced
|
Elements 2
and 3
|
Element 4
|
Extra
|
|
|
|
|
|
Expired Extra
|
Elements 3
and 4
|
Element 2
|
Extra
|
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Post Session Process
The VE Team must prepare and mail all session paperwork
to the coordinating VEC. Once the session arrives at the VEC, in
accordance with FCC rules, the VEC staff must verify all session
documentation. All 605 forms and CSCEs must have the candidate’s
signature and 3 VE signatures. The documents used for expired license
exam element credit must be validated and the test documents must be confirmed as
being passed. Finally, the session data and information from the 605
forms can then be keyed and submitted to the FCC.
The FCC has mandated that all paperwork only upgrades be
done through a VEC via their VE Teams. As always, the candidate will have
to show a photo ID, present the proof, pay the $15 exam session processing fee
and fill out all forms to receive the paper upgrade. The upgrade is not
automatic and may NOT be sent directly to the FCC or to the VEC by the
candidate (again the paperwork only upgrade must occur at a test session and
follow FCC exam session guidelines).
==========================================================================
Additional information and clarification is located on
the Exam Element Credit web page http://www.arrl.org/exam-element-credit.