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Under International Telecommunications Union (ITU) regulations, national governments are required to have those who wish to take part in Amateur Radio demonstrate the knowledge and skills required to operate safely, and without causing interference to other users of the radio spectrum. Typically, licences are graded, with entry level options, and options which provide access to a wider range of frequencies and/or "modes", and sometimes more power. Thankfully, these tests are typically multiple choice, with the exception of the practical test it the Australian system.
Exams are run by either the government department responsible for radio communications; or by delegation to bodies such as the national association for Amateur Radio in that country, or other groups. Fees for exams and licences vary from country to country, or may be free.
There are three grades of licence, Foundation, Standard, and Advanced. Each has access to at least some HF bands, and to increasing numbers of VHF and UHF bands. Power levels increase with the licence grade.
In early 2024 the exam system changed for the second time in the decade. The big upside is that volunteer invigilators (termed "assessors") will work with the ACMA (Australian Communications and Media Authority) directly, with no fee charged. A fees will apply for a certificate and for a callsign, but licence fees have been abolished.
The person, once granted a callsign, operates under a "Class Licence". This was the alternative to ACMA requesting a new lifetime, fee-free licence type for recreational purposes to be legislated (say also covering small boats, where an authority holding contact details is useful in an emergency). Whether it meets ITU regulations requiring a licence issued by a government is a bit "yes, no, maybe" to me. Apparently it is possible to request a document which they claim satisfies things such as the documentation requirement for operating in CEPT countries, or similar.
In the US system the current levels are Technician, General, and Extra, sometimes called Amateur Extra. Each paper combines the theory, practice, and regulations relating to operation permitted by the licence. As knowledge is cumulative in this system, it is necessary to pass each paper up to the level desired. On the upside, the one fee covers one attempt at each paper. Many who are already hold a non-US licence sit all three papers at once.
While in most cases the next paper is provided upon success on the previous paper, if time is available, you can ask to do the following paper. This would really only be sensible had you made the mistake of studying the Extra, while failing to prepare for the General. Assuming success on the Extra, you would leave with a CSCE stating you had passed Extra, and you have a year to study, and then pass the General, with the same VE group, or with another. Some VEs may allow you to take the paper again, for a second fee.
For many operators it is possible to pass at Technician or General, obtain that licence, then come back weeks, months, or years later to upgrade.
There are 14 Volunteer Examiner Coordinators in the US. Some appear to have been founded by a club in a single city, or a small group of clubs. Others are national organisations with the largest, a department within the ARRL. They are listed here: NCVEC
While no new VECs are being registered by the FCC, a large group of VEs have coalesced around the HamStudy and ExamTools sites, offering remote exams, initiated during COVID. This includes several Australian friends.
Some VECs or VE teams are now moving to screen based exams for in-person tests as well. This can be on a laptop PC, or a larger tablet.
Several sites list exams, such as: ARRL - Find an Exam Session, and HamStudy - Find and Exam Session. Both include links to online exams.
Fees vary, and are capped at US$16, although US$15 is the maximum charged.
Laurel VEC charges no fee: General info, Sessions, and Teams.
The Greater Los Angeles Amateur Radio Group, GLAARG has from exams in English and Spanish, and online exams, at $10, with some exemptions. San Diego County Amateur Radio Council, SANDARC has free exams in San Diego, El Cajon, and Escondido; and via Zoom. Golden Empire Amateur Radio Society, GEARS, is in Chico, CA. The pioneers of remote exams, Anchorage Amateur Radio Club, KL7AA offer in-person, and remote exams, now globally.
Western Carolina Amateur Radio Society, VEC WCARS-VE, Inc covers much of the south-eastern US, including parts of Appalachia. The scenic backgrounds, served randomly on many of their pages, are gorgeous. Try the VE Team Leader list (plain background) to see of they have a session near you. W4VEC covers a similar area. Central Alabama VEC, CAVEC covers Alabama, and nearby areas, plus online. Jefferson Amateur Radio Club is in New Orleans, specifically Metairie; W5GAD
If you live near the western shore of Lake Michigan, MRAC VEC, Inc. runs exams at Ham Radio Outlet in Good Hope Rd, Milwaukee, WI. (Don't call HRO).
W5YI-VEC provides examinations across much of the US.
If your area isn't covered by a these groups, there are a couple of others without websites on the NCVEC page. The ARRL covers most locations across the US, and various locations around the world, including Australia.
Those in eastern Australia have access to exams in the US system, and if they wish, to reciprocal licensing, although there is little reason to do so now. This was set up when Australian exams were incredibly expensive, but this service has multiple uses, mentioned below.
The US system has three levels of licence, and through reciprocal licence arrangements, they allow candidates to apply for the "equivalent" Australian licence level, of which there are also three, Foundation, Standard, and Advanced.
An exam session in the ARRL/VEC system costs US$15, a little under A$25 as of April 2025.
US exams are useful for existing Amateurs who are travelling to the US, and want to remove power limits from reciprocal arrangements; hold US citizenship; or who do not have a passport and licence which match (required under US rules); want to be a Volunteer Examiner; want an extra qualification for the CV; or who just want a challenge. This exam may also enable an Australian to obtain a licence for Thailand.
To find the next in-person session, select Australia on this search tool: ARRL - Find an Exam Session; or ask VEA if they can arrange an exam. Or you can use Hamstudy - Sessions to find an online session. It uses your PC's clock to tell you the session time in your local time. For those in eastern Australia should find exams from breakfast time (or earlier) through to early-mid afternoon. West Australians will find late night ones too. You may be able to arrange a more suitable time with VEA.
Should they resume, Volunteer Examiners will attempt to be at "Mayham" or similar events held at Wyong, NSW.
You will need a US address, whether a friend's, a business contact, or a forwarding service (Shopmate has closed). Obtaining an FRN (FCC Registration Number) online for this address is now compulsory, using this online form, ahead of the exam. It is quite simple, with guidance available here. Note: Once registered, you need to then go to ULS Entry to manage your license. Very confusing, I know.
You MUST select a contact address within the US, or its territories, that is, where the US Postal Service is the mail delivery organisation. While this system allows one outside the US, this can only be used for business radio, product approval, etc, NOT amateur radio. If you have a friend in Guam, Hawaii, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, (US) Virgin Islands, American Samoa, or Alaska, then the system should give you a more interesting callsign, or allow you to select one via the "vanity" system.
On the day, you need two HB, B, or No. 2 pencils, an eraser (rubber), a ballpoint pen for multipart (self-carboned) and licence forms, a non-programmable calculator (optional, but it must NOT be part of a 'phone, tablet, or computer); there is no fixed time for completing each paper. ID is required, and if upgrading from another US licence, a printout of this.
Payment is required, and if outside the US, depending on the examiner, US$15 cash, local cash as indicated by them, or potentially, a cheque from a US bank. For the ARRL it is US$15, made out to "ARRL/VEC"; they may also take payment by card. GLAARG exams may have lower fees.
The exam process includes completing the application for a licence. Once it is processed by the VEC, you will be emailed with an invoice for US$35. This can be paid using a credit or debit card, or for those with a US bank account, from that account. The licence can be renewed online after 10 years. This is done via the ULS, and it is up to you to remember to do so.
Once your licence is shown active by logging into the ULS, or in the FCC Universal Licence System Search, it is ready for use. You can also use this to see what callsign a fellow candidate, etc, got.
This licence includes a callsign from the Sequential Call Sign System, and will have "HA" as the licence type, or "Radio Service Code".
You can obtain a personalised "Vanity Callsign", using the FCC online form here. Notes from the ARRL. Info, especially on 1x2 and 2x1 callsigns, can be found on AE7Q's page.
The "RadioQTH" site includes various search tools, and a CW Weight Calculator.
Note that a non-refundable fee applies. If you are going for an in-demand short call it may be wise to apply for several callsigns, ranked by choice order.
Some VKs apply for a call which removes the V, getting something like K7ABC, others swap letters to form one like KV3TV, or go for the format AK8NT or NK1CA. W is also a first letter option.
Certain groups are blocked, and 2x3 calls may only start with W or K. Probably even if His Orange Feloniousness manages to abolish FEMA, or rebrand it, a call can't spell FEMA, eg: WF7EMA or KF2EMA.
Your old callsign will be cancelled, and the new licence type will be: HV
Special events station callsigns, in the 1×1format, are obtained from 1x1callsigns.org. No fee applies. N5E with a weighting of 24 is the call to go for using if using Morse, some are 50. Some are random, some have meaning, like K0W at a dairy farm, or you could apply for K3G for 300 years of one of the Georgetown communities. First contact in California with the Spanish or Portuguese is approaching 500 years, and settlement of Alaska by Russia, 250 years. However, colonisation is not necessarily something to celebrate.
Your application for a callsign and licence can be made at: ACMA - Amateur Radio
For US licences issued before 15 April 2000 a Novice license is good for a VK Standard, and all others for a Advanced. For specific later date ranges other equivalences apply:ACMA Equivalences
You may be able to request a callsign containing your initials, or something meaningful; FLY for a pilot, CAD for a draught-person, PIE for a pastry chef, or PI for a mathematician. Depending on your state or territory, a callsign with a 2 letter suffix may be available if you are applying for an Advanced licence (they are very desirable, and only 676 can exist, versus north of 16,000 general-use 3 letter calls per areas). Some may prefer a callsign with fewer elements in Morse, to make sending it shorter, such as ET, just "dit dah" vs "dah-di-dah-dah di-dah-dah-dah di-di-dit" for my own call - I certainly wasn't thinking about Morse when I selected YJS (the full call has a weight of 82, versus 50 for AG6LE). Avoiding repeated letters may help reduce confusion during contests, or when working a rare DX station during a pileup, or "dog-pile".
Due to a number of individuals who had originally conned the previous company into applying for the franchise, and the loss of profits an alternative rigorous, affordable, all-Amateur exam process posed, a large fee applies to so-called "Recognition of Prior Learning". This is partly due to a the US licences not being HAREC licences, unlike some CEPT member ones. There is however an "Exchange of Notes constituting an Agreement" numbered "Australian Treaty Series Number: [1965] ATS 8", and by the US "UNTS 541 p. 155; TIAS 5836", which I am sure you could demand be honoured, if you are a US Citizen. See: Text on AUSTLII
Once you have either the General or Extra licence you can become a Volunteer Examiner, and help others become licensed. Generals can only administer Technician papers, Extras can do all papers. Advanced licence holders (a "grandfathered" grade you can no longer obtain) can also become VEs, and administer Technician and General papers.
For the ARRL-VEC the manual and forms can be found on the Become an ARRL VE page.
You can also apply to GLAARG (Greater Los Angeles Amateur Radio Group) VEC.
If you live in the area of a localised VEC, you can likely join them, ditto Laurel if you are in the US. Anchorage may accept VEs more widely.
Ideas for venues: Your or a nearby club's rooms; a company's boardroom or lunchroom if unused over weekends or in the evening; a room at a ham radio retailer; a party room, etc at a fast-food restaurant, perhaps in the morning or later in the evening; a church hall; meeting rooms at a council owned hall, or a library; a training room at an emergency organisation (State / Territory Emergency Service, Volunteer Rescue Association, Civil Defence, emergency communications group); scout / guide hall, sports club rooms, etc. Working with a "Hackerspace" or "Makerspace" could work well too. Schools, TAFEs, vocational colleges, "polytechnical" colleges, universities and the like are options. If a candidate offers a site, that may also be viable. Where a group (school, scouts, guides, etc) wants a session for their students or members then often they will have the venue already.
Where a candidate lives in residential care, or has a disability, a private session can be provided. Some may have a residence with a large entertaining area where a controlled groups of candidates can be examined; or space in a farm building.
No group should have exclusivity over ARRL-VEC exams in Australia, or US exams in general in this country. If others can convince another VEC to accredit them, they could provide these services at a lower fee, or free. Other VECs are listed on the NCVEC site, and can choose to list their exams in the ARRL list above.
However, if you are a VE, or want to form a group to serve your area, you are most welcome to say G'day.
VEs are empowered to make appropriate adjustments to the exam process, such as reading the questions and answers to those unable to read them for any reason, and can conduct exams in homes or residential care facilities, when needed.
If you are an existing Australian (or other) Amateur going for the Extra straight up, don't take the General paper for granted, as different knowledge, including of regulations, is required. Ditto a few of the regulations in the Technician paper.
VEA, Volunteer Examiners Australia, providing US and Australian exams, is at vea.org.au.
This domain was once held by a quasi-religious group, so if your library or school blocks (censors) it, you need to insist that they get it unblocked, going to management of necessary, or the Dept of Ed, or state library, etc, complaining of unlawful censorship of the new, education related site. You can also complain to the company running the web filtering, as I did for my local library's Internet.
For Australians, if you have joined a club, or your state body, they may have scheduled classes, or at least exams; or can refer you. If not, a list of assessors able to provide Australian exams is provided on the ACMA site: Assessors. People with certain disabilities or other specials needs need to use a "Specialist" assessor.
Selected groups and agencies are:
BOTs (British Overseas Territories) have their own licensing, examples being:
For other countries see the IARU Member Societies List, or google: Amateur Radio your country
US Exams are available in a number of additional countries, with frequent or on-demand sessions in UK, Germany, Italy, and Japan, among others. They are listed on the ARRL's page.
Doing some practice exams is a very good idea. Remember that for the US exams the actual pool questions are used in practice papers. I am not sure if remote or electronic in-person exams preserve the order of the potential answers from the pool.
HamTestOnline is an very effective online training and examination drill site. You can create an account for free, to track your use of the practice exams. See: hamtestonline.com
I haven't tried it, but the ARRL has an Exam Preview system.
If you are doing a HamStudy Exam it might be worth becoming confident using the practice exams at hamstudy.org, as the user interface is very similar.
The Federal Communications Commission has several parts: There is a Commission, consisting of 5 Commissioners, appointed by the occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (although one seat was vacant as of early 2025, two in February 2026); and various Bureaus and Offices, which do the day-to-day work. As of 20 January 2025 the former Chair, a highly qualified and experienced female Juris Doctor was coerced to resign, and replaced by a hard right corporate lawyer type. It is also possible that many broadcast regulation and telecommunications competition or fairness activities will be attacked or terminated, or maybe they will get all overexcited about the gender of young Johnny's folks in a broadcast show. One would hope that the practical importance of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau and the Office of Engineering and Technology is understood, and not collateral to wider actions.
See: Wikipedia: FCC
And now, the witch-hunts have begun, attacking highly respected media such as NPR and PBS, likewise late-night talk shows. And now even polling companies! Someone has been learning from Putin. Or some Austrian guy.
Written by Julian Sortland, VK2YJS & AG6LE, March 2026.
Tip? US$2, A$3, NZ$4, GB£3, or other. Thanks!
You can also buy me a non-coffee beverage: ko-fi.com/ag6le
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