‰  NOW 18 WPM transition file follows‰

With a revised FCC Form 605, Quick Form Application for
Authorization in the Ship, Aircraft, Amateur, Restricted and
Commercial Operator, and General Mobile Radio Services, soon going
into effect, the National Conference of Volunteer Examiner
Coordinators has updated its unofficial NCVEC Form 605 that's used
at volunteer examination sessions. The revised NCVEC Form 605 must
be used at exam sessions starting on August 21. Both the new FCC and
NCVEC forms ask applicants if they have been convicted of a felony
in any state or federal court. This conforms with FCC requirements
to evaluate an applicant's qualifications to hold any FCC issued
license. The FCC has been asking  the felony question  on other
forms, and its omission on Form 605 was an apparent oversight.  An
applicant's response and explanation to the felony question, now
included on NCVEC Form 605, will be used to determine eligibility to
be a Commission licensee. If the answer to the felony question is
yes,  the applicant must submit to FCC, separately from NCVEC Form
605, a statement, the FCC calls it an exhibit explaining the
circumstances. Such applications will be held for a basic
qualification review, something the FCC already does for other
licensed radio services.  The FCC's Wireless Telecommunications
Bureau has said that an affirmative answer to the felony question
does not mean that an application will be denied automatically.  An
applicant's answer to the felony question and their exhibit will be
publically viewable via the Universal Licensing System. The
applicant can request that all or part of the exhibit be kept
confidential, and it will not be visible to the public.  VECs will
not handle exhibits and confidentiality requests, these must be
filed with the FCC by the applicant.  Applicants must answer the
felony question only when filing NCVEC Form 605 or FCC Form 605 for
a New, Amendment, Modification, (upgrade or call sign change, or
Renewal/Modification, changes at renewal time. The question does not
have to be answered if the applicant is filing a renewal or an
administrative update, change of address, name, email address, etc.
New NCVEC 605 Forms and an Applicant information sheet for use at
ARRL Volunteer Examiner Coordinator exam sessions starting on August
21 have been published. VEC teams should discard all existing
versions of the NCVEC Form 605, they no longer will be valid and
cannot be used going forward.  The FCC has indicated that all VECs
must begin submitting this additional data starting on September 7.
NCVEC decided to make August 21 the effective date to accommodate
mail schedules and the Labor Day holiday.  NCVEC Form 605 has not
been revised since the Commission restructured Amateur Radio license
classes 17 years ago.

‰  END OF 18 WPM transition file ƒ