The Volunteer Examiner (VE) Program

The Volunteer Examiner Program is administered under the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB). The operating authority for every amateur license is granted by the Licensing Division at the FCC's facility in Gettysburg PA. .

How the VE Program Began

Since the early days of Amateur Radio, there have  been several classes of license available to anyone who qualified. To qualify, applicants were required to pass examinations based on Morse code proficiency and knowledge of electronic theory as it pertained to Amateur Radio.

 The FCC Did the Testing. Except for Novice class license exams, all testing was directly supervised by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) personnel at FCC offices around the US. Remember when even Novice license tests were administered by FCC staff?

 Amateur testing was available on at least a weekly schedule, mostly at FCC Field Offices in many US cities. The FCC also sent examiners to cities ("suitcase sites") where fieldoffice testing was not conveniently available. Depending on the FCC's schedule, such testing occurred every three, six or 12 months.

 Budget Cuts. In the early 1980s, the US government was forced to cut back on the budgets of many of its agencies, and the FCC was not overlooked. With less money to operate, the FCC had to "tighten its belt," a familiar phrase in the '80s.

 The "suitcase sites" were cut early from the FCC's amateur testing program. Testing schedules at field offices were also cut way back--to quarterly or less often in many cases. Then it wasn't long before the FCC announced that it would get out of the amateur exam business altogether. If amateurs wanted to continue upgrading their licenses, amateurs would have to do the testing themselves.

 The VEC Program is Born. In late 1982, the GoldwaterWirth Bill was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Ronald Reagan. This bill, known as Public Law 97259, amended the Communications Act of 1934, permitting the FCC to accept the voluntary and uncompensated services of licensed radio amateurs to serve in preparing and administering examinations. It also gave birth to the Volunteer Examiner Coordinator (VEC) program.

What is a Volunteer Examiner Coordinator?

 A Volunteer Examiner Coordinator (VEC) is an organization that has entered into an agreement with the Federal Communications Commission to coordinate the efforts of Volunteer Examiners in preparing and administering examinations for Amateur Radio licenses.  Many people confuse being a Volunteer Examiner (VE) with being a Volunteer Examiner Coordinator (VEC). VEs are individuals accredited by a VEC, and are the people who actually administer the exams. Examination sessions must be coordinated by a VEC, but are conducted by VEs.

(This information extracted from the ARRLVolunteer Manual)

Visitors since 12/13/2006

LOCAL Time

ZULU Time

Chat Now