The Benton County Amateur Radio Emergency Service (BCARES) Volunteer Examiner (VE) Team and Chemeketa Community College’s Electronics Department would like to invite you to an Amateur Radio Technician License VE exam session. To be held on Friday, April 3rd, 2026, at Chemeketa Community College’s Electronics Dept.

Amateur Radio License Types:

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has three operator license classes, each authorizing different levels of operating privileges. New amateur radio operators begin 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. 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. The FCC no longer requires Morse Code proficiency to obtain Amateur Radio licenses.

The VE exam session is free of charge and open to the public, so feel free to spread the word to anyone who might be interested. Registering allows us to stay in touch with you and notify you of any changes in plans.

VE EXAM SESSION - Details:

The VE exam session is where you can take the FCC exam. The cost of the exam is free of charge.

EXAM DATE / TIME: Friday, April 3rd, 2026. The FCC exam testing begins promptly at 6:00 pm, so please arrive 30 minutes early at 5:30 pm for check-in and registration.

EXAM LOCATION: 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-east corner) near the restrooms in building 4, until an instructor can let you into the classroom area. The meeting location on What3Words is “Invite, Price, Verge” at this link: https://w3w.co//invite.price.verge.

DIRECTIONS:

Take Silverton Rd to 45th Ave or 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 directly ahead on Satter Rd.

PARKING:

When required, instructions to receive a complimentary college parking permit valid for the VE exam session on Friday evening will be emailed to ALL registered attendees. Park in the Purple parking lot. Parking in the Purple lot places you closest to building 4, the electronics department. There is also a handicapped area in the yellow parking lot for those with a valid handicap placard. See this link for the campus map and directory:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QD3oTYxjAe89TWCFG5y_RDJxAW-FzkED/view.

FCC PROCESSING FEES:

Applicants who pass the test to obtain their first license will receive an invoice for $35 from the FCC for their licensing fee, and have about 10 days to pay the FCC. The FCC will not issue your license until payment is received. Once payment is made, the license is granted within 24 hours.

Please DO NOT attempt to prepay for your license; instead, wait for the FCC to send you an invoice, and/or notice from the VE team. Such an attempt to prepay will result in your application being lost in a bureaucratic limbo from which none have been known to escape. 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.

Health & Safety Guidelines:

Chemeketa consults with CDC guidance and local public health authorities to ensure the ongoing health and safety of students, staff, and visitors on campus. The college also follows Oregon OSHA workplace guidelines. If you feel sick or are not up to par before the meeting, please refrain from attending in person.

STUDY AIDS:

Those who prefer to do some prep work should sign up with HamStudy.org to begin taking the practice tests and viewing the study cards there. Additionally, several books have been published for those who would enjoy 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 checking with your local library, because once you pass the exam, it doesn't do you much good. If you purchase a book, consider donating it after you’ve passed the test. Also, the library at Chemeketa has Michael Burnette’s The Fast Track to Your Technician Class Ham Radio License, which you may check out. This is the same book we provide to Chemeketa students studying for their license.

One important thing to note is that test questions are changed on a four-year cycle. The current Technician test, which is Element 2, is part of the 2022 to 2026 update cycle. Element 3 is 2023-2027, and Element 4 is 2024-2028. All dates are from July 1st through June 30th. Therefore, the study books found at libraries, including some inexpensive ones found online, may be older editions. While most of the information won’t change much between single cycles, there may be content in older books, several cycles ago, that is less relevant for the current exam. On the other hand, the website HamStudy is always up to date; therefore, we recommend creating a FREE account at HamStudy.org and begin studying the “Technician class” practice tests and study cards at this link: https://hamstudy.org/tech2022.

FREE ONLINE STUDY CLASS:

If you are interested in taking a technician class before the exam, there is one being offered by Scott Rosenfeld, N7JI, online via Zoom. There is a Spring Break Study class taking place over the Spring Break weekend, so don’t miss the opportunity. To register, please contact Scott at ars.n7ji@gmail.com

Class day 1: Saturday, March 21st, 2026, from 9 am to 4 pm
Class day 2: Sunday, March 22nd, 2026, from 9 am to 1 pm

REGISTRATION PREREQUISITES:

There are two important prerequisites you’ll need to complete before attending the VE Session to take the FCC exam. For those taking their first FCC exam, you will need to apply for an FCC Registration Number (FRN).

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 an 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 and registered for our VE exam session at Chemeketa, please do so before attending the VE exam session. Please note: We will administer the exam through Exam Tools, a platform related to HamStudy.org. Therefore, to take the FCC exam, you will need to create an account at this website: HamStudy.org and be pre-registered for the exam session taking place at Chemeketa (see “Exam Registration” below to register). If you have a laptop or tablet you would like to use, you're welcome to use it. We will also have paper exams available on-site.

EXAM REGISTRATION:

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

If the “Register” Button below causes an error, try the “Old Registration” button next to it; otherwise, please use the “Register” Button below.

Please let us know if you have any accessibility concerns or questions.
Contact us if 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@gmail.com
Phillip (Chemeketa Electronics dept aide) at: ormicroportal.club@gmail.com
Scott (ARRL Class Instructor) at: ars.n7ji@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).

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. 73.