In Hawaii, VE Team leader and Section Manager Joe Speroni, AH0A, said he and his team passed the 100-candidate mark on August 10 for video-supervised remote test sessions. Speroni said the most recent session administered exams to 10 candidates simultaneously.

“Candidates from all Hawaiian Islands, Puerto Rico, Guam, and US military bases in Okinawa have had an opportunity to sit for licenses. The high pass rate of 95% is most likely due to candidates having had time to prepare for the exam.” Speroni also said his VEs’ willingness to contribute their time has made the program a success and available to a wide geographical range.

Zoom meeting video lends itself to handling three candidates per session, and each requires three VEs. The 1:1 ratio of candidates to VEs makes planning important. Fortunately, the team of 15 VEs has volunteers from Oahu, Maui, the Big Island, California, and the Pacific. Often, hams from Okinawa and Guam are helping license and upgrade hams in Hawaii.”

— Joe Speroni, AH0A

ARRL VEC Manager Maria Somma, AB1FM, reports that through the end of July, overall FCC license activity was down by 15% compared to the same period last year. New amateur licenses are down by 12% so far in 2020, with 15,849 new licensees compared to 17,947 in 2019. “Upgraded licenses are down by a staggering 23% — 6,501 versus 4,984,” Somma said. “The year-end prediction of 7,500 upgrades is much lower than in previous years, which have averaged around 9,500.”

ARRL Story - http://www.arrl.org/news/technology-and-technique-making-ham-radio-testing-possible-during-pandemic