Chemeketa Community College’s Electronics Dept June 2024

The Benton County Amateur Radio Emergency Service (BCARES) Volunteer Examiner (VE) Team and Chemeketa Community College’s Electronic Dept would like to invite you to an Amature Radio Technician License study course and VE exam session. To be held May 31st, June 1st, 7th, 8th, & 10th 2024 at Chemeketa Community College’s Electronics Dept. The FCC study course will prepare you to pass the FCC exam to obtain your Amateur Radio Technician license. The FCC exams will be administered during the VE session on Monday.

Currently, the FCC has three operator license classes, each authorizing different levels of operating privileges. New amateur radio operators start with the Technician Class license and then may advance to the General Class and then to the Amateur Extra Class operator license. During the examination, an applicant may take all three exams consecutively to obtain all FCC license levels, as long as they have successfully passed the previous lower license. The FCC no longer requires Morse Code proficiency to obtain Amateur Radio licenses.

Technician License holders will have all amateur radio privileges above 30 MHz, including additional privileges on certain HF frequencies. Technician Licenses may transmit up to 1500 Watts PEP on the VHF and higher bands and may operate FM voice, digital packet (computers), television, single-sideband voice, and other modes. You can even make radio contacts via satellites using relatively inexpensive radio equipment, so if space is your final frontier, we’ve got you covered.

The study course and the VE session are both free of charge and open to the public, so feel free to spread the word to anyone who might be interested. To attend either the study course or the VE session, you must register by filling out our "Registration Contact and Interest Form." You can find that form by clicking on the link provided under the "Registration" section at the end of this document. Registering will allow us to keep in touch with you and notify you of any changes in plans.

VE SESSION:

Monday, June 10th, 2024. FCC exam testing begins promptly at 1800 (6 pm) so please arrive 30 minutes early at 1730 (5:30 pm) for check-in and registration.

LOCATION:

Both the VE Exam Session and Study Course take place at Chemeketa Community College, 4000 Lancaster Dr. NE, Salem, Oregon. Building: 4 Room: 126 (located on the 1st floor, Electronics Department). Upon arrival, gather inside the break room located downstairs (north corner) near the restrooms in building 4, until an instructor can let you into the classroom area. The location on What3Words is “Invite, Price, Verge” at this link: https://w3w.co//invite.price.verge.

DIRECTIONS:

Take Silverton Rd to 45th Ave, Ward Dr to 45th Ave, and turn onto Satter Rd. When entering the campus on Satter Rd, the purple parking lot is on the left side of Satter Rd, and the yellow handicapped parking lot is straight down Satter Rd.

PARKING:

Complementary College parking permits are issued to all attendees for the course duration and the VE exam session on Monday evening. Park in the Purple parking lot. Parking on the North Satter Dr side of the parking lot places you closest to building 4, the electronics department. There is also a handicapped area in the yellow parking lot. See this link for the campus map and directory: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QD3oTYxjAe89TWCFG5y_RDJxAW-FzkED/view.

Health & Safety Guidelines:

Chemeketa consults the CDC guidance and our local public health authorities to ensure the ongoing health and safety of students, staff, and those visiting the campus. The college also follows Oregon-OSHA guidance for workplaces. Should you feel sick or not feel up to par before the meeting, please refrain from attending the meeting in person.

FCC STUDY COURSE:

The FCC study course is offered free of charge and held at Chemeketa’s Electronic Department. The study course is a four-day Radio License Class designed for beginners to prepare you to pass the FCC exam to obtain your Amateur Radio Technician license, with no prior knowledge required. The FCC Technician License exam covers basic regulations, operating practices, and electronics theory, focusing on VHF and UHF applications.

Course Schedule:

The study course will cover material for the FCC Amateur Radio Element 2 exam. Element 2 is the test required to obtain an Amateur Radio Technician license.

• Class day 1: Friday, May 31st, 2024. From 1730-1930 (5:30 pm to 7:30 pm)
• Class day 2: Saturday, June 1st, 2024. From 0900-1700 (9 am to 5 pm)
• Class day 3: Friday, June 7th, 2024. From 1730-1930 (5:30 pm to 7:30 pm)
• Class day 4: Saturday, June 8th, 2024. From 0900-1700 (9 am to 5 pm)

Upon course completion, attendees will have learned the fundamental principles of Ohm's law, series / parallel circuits, basic modulation types, electrical component symbols relating to radio technology, radio terminology, FCC regulations, and Amateur Radio bands/frequencies used by Technician Class License holders, and acquired knowledge to pass the exam to obtain their FCC Amateur Radio Technician license.

During class, there will be regular breaks and a lunch break on Saturday. There is a breakroom with Microwave Oven and refrigerator/freezer that is available. You may drink and snack while in class. Please, NO food or drinks inside the Lab areas.

Study Aids:

Those who would like to do a little bit of prep work may sign up at HamStudy.org and can do some practice tests and study there. Also, there are several books published for those who would like to do some reading. Books are available by the ARRL, Gordon West, Stephen Horan, Michael Burnette’s Fast Track Series, and the FREE No Nonsense Technician Class License Study Guide by KB6NU, among others. While we can't vouch for or recommend anyone in particular, most of the books out there do a reasonable job of covering the relevant material.

Before you buy, we recommend you check with your local library, because they don't do you much good after you have passed the test. If you purchase a book, consider donating it after you’ve passed the test.

One important thing to note is that tests are updated on a four-year cycle, and the current Element 2 tests are part of the 2022 to 2026 update cycle, element 3 is 2023-2027, and Element 4 is 2020-2024, all dates are from July 1st through June 30th. Therefore, the books found at libraries and some inexpensive ones will be older editions. While most of the information doesn’t change much between cycles, there may be content in older books that is less relevant for the current exam. Where HamStudy.org is always up to date.

VE SESSION - Details:

The VE session is where you can take the FCC exam test. The cost of the exam is free of charge. Exam testing takes place in the Electronic Department on Monday, June 10th. Testing begins promptly at 1800 (6 pm), so please arrive 30 minutes early at 1730 (5:30 pm) for registration and check-in.

Our team is accredited through the Laurel VEC. If you want to know what that means, we can fill you in. We will have testing available for all three elements (2, 3, & 4) for those who want to upgrade to their General Class license or Amateur Extra license. Those taking the Technician and General class tests must achieve a passing score of 74 percent or greater to receive their amateur radio licenses from the FCC. Because there are 35 questions on both exams, you must answer at least 26 questions correctly. Therefore, if you feel confident that you can pass the exam, you do not need to take the study class to take the exam.

As for prerequisites, we do ask that you preregister at HamStudy.org for the exam session taking place at Chemeketa and have an FRN from the FCC. See the “Registration / Prerequisites” section below.

FCC Fees. Applicants who successfully pass a test and earn a new license will receive an invoice for $35 from the FCC for their fee. The FCC will not issue a new license until they receive payment. Once payment has been made, a license is granted within a few hours. There is no additional cost to taking consecutive exams to obtain advanced licenses, as any additional licenses beyond the Technician license are free upgrades. Licenses are valid for ten (10) years, after which time you’ll need to pay a renewal fee to the FCC. So the total out-of-pocket cost for the study course and exam is $35.

REGISTRATION / PREREQUISITES:

Here is how to register for the FCC Study Class and the prerequisites required before taking the FCC exam during the VE session. There are two important prerequisite requirements you’ll need to do before attending the VE Session to take the FCC exam.

First prerequisite (CORES / FRN):

For those who don't already have an FCC Registration Number (FRN) and a Username Account set up on the Commission Registration System (CORES), you'll need to get those set up first. An FRN is required to do business with the FCC, and CORES is where the business gets done and is your FCC user account. Use the link below for Step-by-step instructions to establish a Username Account on CORES and get an FRN:

Link for Instructions to get an FRN and a Username Account on CORES: https://www.fcc.gov/wireless/support/knowledge-base/universal-licensing-system-uls-resources/getting-fcc-registration.

Helpful FRN registration Tips.:

When registering, both a U.S.-based physical (snail mail) address and email address are required. You can perform routine updates to your license information through the FCC for free (updating mailing address or other contact info). Please note that the address you use to sign up for the FRN does become listed publicly. Therefore, if privacy is a concern, you can use any address you receive mail at, such as a P.O. Box or a work address, so it does not need to be your physical home address.

The FCC regulation states "Any person, except a representative of a foreign government, may apply for an FCC amateur service license upon passing the qualifying examinations."

Therefore, international students and our global citizens may obtain an FCC Amateur Radio license. The FCC licensee must maintain a valid US mailing address. Therefore, remember to use a U.S.-based physical (snail mail) address when registering your user account with CORES.

When registering for an FRN everyone should sign up as a resident individual – Under "FRN Registration - Registrant Type" select "An individual", and then Under "FRN Registration - Individual Type" select "CORES FRN Registration."

Second prerequisite (HamStudy):

For those who haven't already signed up for an account at HamStudy.org and registered for our VE exam session at Chemeketa, please do so before attending the VE exam session. We are going to be conducting the exam through Exam Tools, which is a platform related to HamStudy.org. Therefore, to take the FCC exam, you will need an account on HamStudy and be preregistered for the exam session that is taking place at Chemeketa (see below link). If you have a laptop or tablet you would like to use, please bring those. We will have the ability to have paper exams available on-site as well.

REGISTRATION:

If you are already reading this post on HamStudy.org, register for the FCC exam test (VE Session) using the button at the bottom of this page.

If you are interested in taking the FCC study course, please take a moment to fill out the Registration Contact and Interest form below. This will help us know whether you will attend the FCC study course and if you plan on taking the FCC exam test during the VE Session on Monday. By filling out this form, we will also have a better idea of how many people will attend each event, and we will be able to contact you in case of any last-minute changes. Then, stay tuned in for future dates.

Link to Registration Contact and Interest form (please fill out): https://forms.gle/j1iKpTqBcuRfgkct8.

Please let us know if you have any accessibility concerns or questions.

Contact us if you are a student/faculty and HamStudy reports “there are no seating slots available.” Also, contact us if you are interested in joining our VE team.

Contacts:

• Anthony (BCARES / Laurel VEC coordinator) at: KE7OSN at gmail.com
• Al (ARRL instructor) at: K7AOZ.al at gmail.com
• Phillip (Chemeketa Electronic’s dept aide) at: ormicroportal.club at gmail.com

We would like to thank Chemeketa Community College’s Electronics Dept for graciously hosting this event and the awesome people with the Benton County Amateur Radio Emergency Service (BCARES) and our local Volunteer Examiner (VE) Team for their support, including the Laurel Amateur Radio Club, Inc (Laurel VEC), and our ARRL instructor. We are thankful for your generous support. Thank you all for being gracious Elmers. Without you, we couldn't have gotten started in Amateur Radio. 73s.