Posted by: Kent Petty, KL5T
Date: January 4, 2022
The Anchorage ARC VEC continued to build its team of Volunteer Examiners (VEs) throughout 2021 and administered examinations to 1,114 examinees in 1,107 examination sessions! A session is consists of a set of VEs administering examinations to one or more examinees at one testing location. Oh…yes, and ALL of our examinations were administered REMOTELY. Want to learn how? Check this out: https://kl7aa.org/vec/remote-testing/ [1]
To break it down a bit further, of those 1,114 examinees, 1,064 of them earned a new license or upgraded their existing license; a total of 1,137 examinations were passed (some examinees take more than one examination at a session, some even go from “zero to hero”)! We administered examinations to applicants all over the country, and even all over the world. One of our VEs even lives in India (he is up late to participate in our sessions!).
Now, here is where it really gets great. It is through the volunteer spirit of our VE team which makes this all happen. All told, they logged 5,603 hours of volunteer time administering exams and processing paperwork and applications. Wow! That said, job one in our program is to have fun and to render an awesome experience for our examinees. Oh, yes, and we are lightning fast when it comes to getting the filings done with the FCC and getting new licenses and upgrades processed. Whew!
The Anchorage ARC VEC is also a Club Station Call Sign Administrator (CSCSA). This is not as well known as our VEC program, but we did process 9 club station license applications in 2021. Go here to learn how: https://kl7aa.org/vec/club-station-licenses/ [2]
What are the requirements to be a VE you may ask? Well………
- You must be at least 18 years of age;
- You must hold a valid FCC-issued Amateur Radio license of General, Advanced, or Extra class;
- Your license must have never been revoked or suspended for cause;
- If you intend to be part of our Remote VE team, you’ll need to have a suitable computer with camera, microphone, and internet bandwidth to particpate in “remote” exam sessions.
- If you intend to be part of an existing in-person VE team, you MUST be sponsored and approved by the Lead VE from an established team you will be serving with prior to applying (i.e. sponsorship) which means the existing team must be established and approved by the Anchorage ARC VEC Chairman; and
- You must agree to abide by the policies and procedures set forth by the Anchorage ARC VEC
To learn more about how to become a VE with the Anchorage ARC VEC, go here: https://kl7aa.org/vec/become-accredited/ [3]
Many, many thanks goes out to our VEs. They make this happen and have fun in the process. There is a lot of laughing that goes on before and after our sessions, and many of our new licensees like the process so much they join the team right away.
Thanks for your support.
Kent Petty, KL5T, Chairman
Anchorage ARC VEC
