I have now had the chance to review the R&O. To give credit where it is due, it’s pretty well done and well balanced. Here are the main points:
1.
Holders of expired General, Advanced, and Extra licenses, and of Technician licenses issued before March 21, 1987, who pass the current Element 2 (Technician) examination will be given credit for additional
examination elements as follows: Extra, Elements 3 and 4; all others, Element 3. Credit will not be given on the basis of an expired CSCE, which was our main concern because of the opportunity for fraud.
2.
The FCC dropped its own idea, which we strongly opposed, to reduce the required number of VEs from three to two.
3.
Remote testing will be allowed, without the mechanics of how remote testing is to be conducted being spelled out in the rules. “VECs may coordinate sessions only if they are certain that remote testing
can assure the proper conduct and necessary supervision of the examination session….we emphasize that the obligation under our rules of VECs and VEs to administer examinations responsibly applies in full to remote testing. In the event that their remote administration
compromises the examination process, VECs can decertify VEs and we can terminate our agreements with VECs.”
4.
Our request for a rules change to permit single slot TDMA technology was strongly supported in the comments and has been granted.
5.
The Commission has taken the opportunity to make a few editorial corrections, none of them substantive.
In short, I see nothing in the R&O that should give us any heartburn. The rules changes take effect 30 days after publication in the Federal Register.
73,
Dave Sumner, K1ZZ
Chief Executive Officer