FCC Rules, Candidate information and VE instructions related to
Exam Element Credit.
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Information Pertaining to the FCC Element Credit Rule
The FCC has revised the Amateur Service Part 97 rules (July 2014) to grant partial written examination element credit to holders of expired General, Advanced and Extra licenses.
The FCC requires former licensees — those falling outside the 2-year grace period — to pass Element 2 (Technician) in order to be relicensed.
Expired license holders will not automatically receive credit on that day and may not operate as a new licensee until a new license is granted.
To take advantage of the FCC expired license credit 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.
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 an 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.
On the CSCE in the top right corner, circle the expired license Element credit(s) and 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 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” or “CT” 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 www.arrl.org/files/file/VEs/Roster%202014%20Final.pdf (page 2 of document).
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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).
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Additional information and valid forms of exam element credit for Expired Licenses is located on the Exam Element Credit web page www.arrl.org/exam-element-credit.
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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.
A printable version can be found here Element Credit Table and Information.
Remember the burden of proof falls on the candidate, not the VE team or the VEC.
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|
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
|
Element 2
|
Element 3
|
General
|
|
| |
|
Current Technician issued
BEFORE 3/21/1987
|
Elements 2 and 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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