Brazilian Radio Hams Discuss Online Exams with Regulator

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LABRE met again with ANATEL on 2nd July 2021, to discuss issues related to online amateur radio exams

The numbers collected by LABRE through the Online Survey were presented regarding the demand for tests at the national level, organized by state and by intended class. ANATEL will, based on these numbers, carry out actions to try to reduce the deficit of exams.

LABRE suggested that a previous registry be created to facilitate access by interested parties and better organize the supply and demand for vacancies, so that each person would register in this registry and ANATEL would direct the vacancies offered to those registered, in a chronological manner, since today there is no accessible way of consulting or registering to fill these vacancies, and interested parties must make numerous attempts by accessing the SEC system and manually querying state by state.

ANATEL accepted LABRE's suggestions and will carry out internal consultations for the possible creation of this previous registry, possibly as early as August, within its operational conditions. LABRE offered to provide any assistance in this regard, since in the survey we have contacted by email hundreds of people interested in taking the exams. LABRE again presented to ANATEL the issue of the difficulty in the post-test, specifically for carrying out station licensing, which has proved to be the main problem for candidates, especially for the entry of new radio amateurs into our Service.

A new meeting to continue discussions on the topic is scheduled to take place in the coming weeks. LABRE will continue to cooperate with ANATEL to facilitate access to amateur radio and thus promote its growth throughout the national territory, as it has always done throughout its more than 87 years of existence.

Source LABRE - https://tinyurl.com/IARU-Brazil

ARRL Release 2020 Annual Report

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In the report ARRL President Rick Roderick K5UR says radio amateurs must embrace the changing landscape and accept the ever-changing technologies in our hobby today

It's notable that after years of decline ARRL membership increased in 2020:

  • 2015 - 170,528

  • 2016 - 164,070

  • 2017 - 159,070

  • 2018 - 156,899

  • 2019 - 156,755

  • 2020 - 158,494

Pages 18-19 of the report cover the switch to an online test session model in 2020 in order to keep exams running safely during the pandemic. Hundreds of Volunteer Examiners (VEs) were trained to conduct video-supervised online exam sessions using the ExamTools online examination system. By the end of the year, ARRL VE teams had remotely tested nearly 4,000 applicants. There is one candidate per session in an online test session, and teams conduct multiple sessions per day.

The shift to the ExamTools online examinations system has allowed ARRL VEs to better serve our members. The program works for online or printed examinations to manage, conduct, and grade a test session. The comprehensive program utilizes GradeCam to automatically grade exams in seconds using the camera on a phone or computer, which eliminates the need to manually score the tests.

Download the ARRL 2020 report - http://www.arrl.org/annual-reports

New Emergency Communications and Field Services Committee

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At its just-concluded July 2021 meeting, the ARRL Board of Directors approved By-Law changes creating a third Standing Committee that joins the existing Administration and Finance Committee and Programs and Services Committee.

The charter of the new Emergency Communications and Field Services Committee (EC-FSC) is to develop and recommend new or modified Board policy and programs for emergency communications through the Amateur Radio Emergency Service® (ARES®) and National Traffic System™ (NTS™) entities.

The committee also will offer enhanced support for its Field Organization leadership volunteers, including Section Managers, and an increased focus on ARRL-Affiliated Clubs.

The EC-FSC will further provide guidance to the CEO in translating Board policy into prioritized tasking, funding, and staffing of programs, services, and training in support of amateur radio emergency communications, field organization volunteers, and recruitment and retention of new and existing members through assistance to Affiliated and Special Service Clubs.

The EC-FSC will have additional responsibility for monitoring and assessing trends in emergency communications technology and participant skills worldwide, and for identifying “best practices” for voluntary emergency communications provided by ARES and NTS, coordinating and cooperating with other amateur radio national societies as appropriate.