Get Your Ham Ticket
FCC Application Fees Unlikely To Go Into Effect Until 2022
See ARRL article below
See ARRL article below
Gary Reed, N2QEE, reports : There will be a VE session at the W2MMD Clubhouse in Mullica Hill on Thursday, November 11, 2021. The session will begin at 7:00 PM. Since the FCC requires an FRN (FCC registration number), there can be no walk-in candidates; they must preregister. The FCC requires an email address as the official contact for the candidates and license holder.
If you have a current license the FCC requires you to have an email on file in the FCC ULS - https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsEntry/licManager/login.jsp and use your FRN and password to access the site.
Also starting last month, there are now 12 versions of each exam elements not just the previous 5. The FCC hasn't starting charging the $35 license fee so that charge won't apply at this session.
If you have a current license the FCC requires you to have an email on file in the FCC ULS - https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsEntry/licManager/login.jsp and use your FRN and password to access the site.
Also starting last month, there are now 12 versions of each exam elements not just the previous 5. The FCC hasn't starting charging the $35 license fee so that charge won't apply at this session.
The South Jersey Radio Association has testing sessions at the New Brooklyn United Methodist Church, 1336 East Malaga Road, Williamstown, NJ at 7 PM on third Wednesday of the month. There are NO testing sessions during the months of November and December.
The Southern Counties Amateur Radio Association (SCARA) offers a VE testing session on the first Thursday of each month. The testing location is at the Anthony Canale Training Center, 5033 English Creek Avenue, Egg Harbor Township, NJ. The doors open at 6:30 PM and testing begins at 7:00 PM. Pre-registration is required. Be sure to bring your photo I.D. and current license if you are upgrading to a higher license class. The current testing fee is $15.
To pre-register, please contact Larry Schall, KB2MN at 609-287-5340 or kb2mn <at> arrl <dot> net.
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Prior to taking your Technician Class exam, you must get an FRN number from the FCC. It replaces your Social Security Number.
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The PDF file downloads below are publicly available material
2018-2022 Technician Class (Element 2) exam is 35 questions out of a pool of 423 questions
2019-2023 General Class (Element 3) exam is 35 questions out of a pool of 452 questions
2020-2024 Amateur Extra Class (Element 4) exam is 50 questions out of a pool of 620 questions
2018-2022 Technician Class (Element 2) exam is 35 questions out of a pool of 423 questions
2019-2023 General Class (Element 3) exam is 35 questions out of a pool of 452 questions
2020-2024 Amateur Extra Class (Element 4) exam is 50 questions out of a pool of 620 questions
2018-2022 Technician Class (Element 2) Question Pool.PDF
2019-2023 General Class (Element 3) Question Pool.PDF
2019-2023 General Class Graphic G7-1.PDF
2020-2024 Amateur Extra Class (Element 4) Question Pool.PDF
2020-2024 Amateur Extra Class Question Pool Diagrams.PDF
Download Part 97 FCC Rules
2019-2023 General Class (Element 3) Question Pool.PDF
2019-2023 General Class Graphic G7-1.PDF
2020-2024 Amateur Extra Class (Element 4) Question Pool.PDF
2020-2024 Amateur Extra Class Question Pool Diagrams.PDF
Download Part 97 FCC Rules
Amateur Radio License Practice Exams and Study Websites
www.hamstudy.org : Find A Test Sessions
ARRL : Find An Amateur Radio License Online Exam
Gordon West Study Guides
KB6NU's No-Nonsense Study Guides
QST de W1AW
ARRL Bulletin 21 ARLB021
From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT August 17, 2021
To all radio amateurs
ARLB021 FCC Application Fees Unlikely to Go into Effect Until 2022
The schedule of FCC amateur radio application fees likely will not go into effect before 2022. FCC staff confirmed during a recent virtual meeting with Volunteer Examiner Coordinators (VECs) that the agency is still working on the necessary changes to the Universal Licensing System (ULS) software and other processes and procedures that must be in place before it starts collecting fees from amateur applicants. Earlier this year, the FCC said it would not start collecting fees from amateur applicants before this Summer. The new estimate is that the fees won't go into effect until early next year.
Once it's effective, the $35 application fee will apply to new, modification (upgrade and sequential call sign change), renewal, and vanity call sign applications. All fees will be per application. Administrative update applications, such as those to change a licensee's name, mailing, or email address, will be exempt from fees. ARRL VEC manager Maria Somma, AB1FM, said Volunteer Examiner (VE) teams will not face the burden of collecting the $35 fee.
"Once the FCC application fee takes effect, new and upgrade applicants will pay the exam session fee to the VE team as usual, but they'll pay the $35 application fee directly to the FCC using the FCC Pay Fees system," she explained. When the FCC receives the examination information from the VEC, it will email a link with payment instructions to each successful candidate who then will have 10 days from the date of the email to pay.
The FCC Pay Fees system can be accessed at : https://apps2.fcc.gov/Batch_Filer/login.cfm.
After the fee is paid and the FCC has processed an application, examinees will receive a second email from the FCC with a link to their official license. The link will be good for 30 days. Licensees also will be able to view, download, and print official license copies by logging into their FCC ULS account. The FCC no longer provides printed licenses.
Licensees can log into the ULS with their 10-digit FRN (FCC Registration Number) and password at any time to view and manage their license and application, print their license, and update anything in their FCC license record, including adding an email address.
FEE SCHEDULE :
INDIVIDUALS :
$35 FEE : New, modification (upgrade and sequential call sign change), renewal, and vanity call sign applications. All fees will be per application.
NO FEE : Administrative updates, such as a change of name, mailing or email address, or license cancellation.
AMATEUR RADIO CLUBS :
$35 FEE : New, renewal, trustee change, and vanity call sign applications. All fees will be per application.
NO FEE : Administrative updates, such as a change of name, mailing or email address, or license cancellation.
ARRL Bulletin 21 ARLB021
From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT August 17, 2021
To all radio amateurs
ARLB021 FCC Application Fees Unlikely to Go into Effect Until 2022
The schedule of FCC amateur radio application fees likely will not go into effect before 2022. FCC staff confirmed during a recent virtual meeting with Volunteer Examiner Coordinators (VECs) that the agency is still working on the necessary changes to the Universal Licensing System (ULS) software and other processes and procedures that must be in place before it starts collecting fees from amateur applicants. Earlier this year, the FCC said it would not start collecting fees from amateur applicants before this Summer. The new estimate is that the fees won't go into effect until early next year.
Once it's effective, the $35 application fee will apply to new, modification (upgrade and sequential call sign change), renewal, and vanity call sign applications. All fees will be per application. Administrative update applications, such as those to change a licensee's name, mailing, or email address, will be exempt from fees. ARRL VEC manager Maria Somma, AB1FM, said Volunteer Examiner (VE) teams will not face the burden of collecting the $35 fee.
"Once the FCC application fee takes effect, new and upgrade applicants will pay the exam session fee to the VE team as usual, but they'll pay the $35 application fee directly to the FCC using the FCC Pay Fees system," she explained. When the FCC receives the examination information from the VEC, it will email a link with payment instructions to each successful candidate who then will have 10 days from the date of the email to pay.
The FCC Pay Fees system can be accessed at : https://apps2.fcc.gov/Batch_Filer/login.cfm.
After the fee is paid and the FCC has processed an application, examinees will receive a second email from the FCC with a link to their official license. The link will be good for 30 days. Licensees also will be able to view, download, and print official license copies by logging into their FCC ULS account. The FCC no longer provides printed licenses.
Licensees can log into the ULS with their 10-digit FRN (FCC Registration Number) and password at any time to view and manage their license and application, print their license, and update anything in their FCC license record, including adding an email address.
FEE SCHEDULE :
INDIVIDUALS :
$35 FEE : New, modification (upgrade and sequential call sign change), renewal, and vanity call sign applications. All fees will be per application.
NO FEE : Administrative updates, such as a change of name, mailing or email address, or license cancellation.
AMATEUR RADIO CLUBS :
$35 FEE : New, renewal, trustee change, and vanity call sign applications. All fees will be per application.
NO FEE : Administrative updates, such as a change of name, mailing or email address, or license cancellation.
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Getting My Dad’s Call Sign
By Mary Delemarre, W2TDS (Formally KD2PLH) My dad, Steve Blasko, known to hams as W2TDS passed away on December 30, 2020. He had been a ham since he was a teenager, even before he was an electronics technician in the Navy. He learned about ham radio while at Merchantville High School in an after-school club. He was 17 when he got his ham ticket and his driver's license. Some of my earliest |
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memories are of my dad saying "CQ CQ this is W2TDS Whiskey Two Tango Delta Sierra calling CQ". When I was six I moved upstairs into the bedroom he had built for me. My mom and dad did not have enough money to pay for a finished second floor, so dad did it himself. I cannot think of my bedroom without remembering going to sleep with the crazy sounds of the antennas blowing in the wind.
The idea to get my dad's call sign was suggested to me by my brother, Stephen Jr., just after we had said a toast to my dad. We had just come back from arraigning his funeral. It all seemed so surreal. Two months earlier he had been driving, paying bills, walking and talking, and now he was dead. At the end he wasn't even able to talk, but he passed away peacefully looking at my mom, his wife of 55 years. I was glad I was there when he passed, I had been able to say goodbye to the man who had raised me to become the person I am today. I probably would not be an electrical engineer or a ham without his encouragement and guidance. He was always encouraging me to get my license, especially after I got my Electrical Engineering degree from Rutgers and the Morse code requirement was dropped. I had thought about it from time to time, but finally did something about it when I attended a ham cram session at the Trenton Computer Festival and passed the test. I waited a few months to tell my dad. I told him on father's day. He was so happy and said it was the best present ever. The next day he drove down to HRO in Delaware and bought me my rig - a Yaesu 857d.
But was I worthy of his call sign and could I get it with just a technician’s license? I wasn't sure what to do, but I knew the members of the Gloucester County Amateur Radio Club would help me if I asked for help. I got lots of encouragement and advice from them and it helped me navigate what to do.
I did a lot of research to better understand call signs, vanity signs and how to get vanity signs. I learned that the FCC wants to start charging hams licensing fees. I did not know if that had gone into effect and the FCC website certainly did not help clear up my confusion.
From my research I learned that the rules of vanity call signs had relaxed and I would be able to qualify for my dad's call sign with a technician class. For more information on vanity signs please refer to : https://www.fcc.gov/wireless/bureau-divisions/mobility-division/amateur-radio-service/amateur-call-sign-systems. I also learned that the FCC fees for ham vanity call signs had not been implemented.
My first attempt to get my dad's call sign failed, because he still had the call sign. I needed to alert the FCC that he had passed before I could request it as next of kin.
MAIL METHOD : "The license of the former holder now deceased must show a status of expired or cancelled in the licensee database. See Section 97.31(a). This is accomplished by submitting a request that includes a death certificate or obituary that shows the person named in the operator/primary station license grant has died. Such a request may be submitted as a pleading associated with the deceased licensee's license and sent to : FCC, 1270 Fairfield Road, Gettysburg, PA 17325-7245
ELECTRONIC METHOD : You can submit all the information via the FCC’s support web page by clicking on “Submit a Help Request”: https://www.fcc.gov/wireless/available-support-services. At the bottom of the help request page you can attach a file if needed before submitting the notice to FCC.
I chose the electronic method. I attached an electronic copy of the death certificate and included links to the obituary. I also mentioned that I was planning to request his call sign.
The website says "Allow FCC one to two weeks to cancel the license. You can verify the FCC has canceled the license by looking up the FCC license call sign data at https://www.fcc.gov/wireless/systems-utilities/universal-licensing-system. If the license has been canceled, FCC will show the license STATUS as "CANCELED"."
About a week or so later I checked. Please refer to Figure 1 below.
Now that my dad's call had been canceled, I resumed my electronic application for my dad's call sign. It was still pending from my first attempt.
According to the FCC website "After the license is canceled in the system, the eligible family member will have a limited amount of time to apply for the call sign depending on the date of death. The time allowed may be as little as 30 days or up to 2 years to apply for the call sign as a vanity call sign before it goes back into the pool of available call signs."
“An eligible family member would apply under the eligibility : CLOSE RELATIVE OF FORMER HOLDER.
The applying amateur must have their FRN (Federal Registration Number) and their CORES/License password to log in to the FCC's online Filing System : https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsEntry/licManager/login.jsp. Filing online is fairly easy and you will know immediately the FCC has received the request and that the application was completed correctly.”
“If you have any questions or issues with the password to login, you can call the CORES help desk.
FCC CORES/FRN Help Line: 877-480-3201 (Mon.-Fri. 8 a.m.-6 p.m. ET).
Once you have logged in, applying for a vanity call sign online is very easy and should take less than 5 minutes”.
It took about 5 minutes. I chose CLOSE RELATIVE and I believe I mentioned I was his daughter. See Figure 2 below for the confirmation of my request to get W2TDS.
It takes the FCC about 18 days to issue the new call sign. I checked every few days and finally on March 16th I was W2TDS. Refer to Figure 3 below.
I also had to register my new call sign with http://www.echolink.org so I can continue participating on the 2M Thursday net rag chew using EchoLink.
Speaking of which, I would like to thank the 2M Thursday net crew for their encouragement and help in getting my dad's call sign. I would especially like to thank Vinnie N4NYY and Steve W2SEF for the detailed emails.
I hope I can live up to my dad's legacy as W2TDS.
73,
Mary Delemarre
W2TDS