KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

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Do we need more Volunteer Examiner Coordinators?

Posted: 07 Jan 2021 09:11 AM PST
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Yesterday, one of the hams I follow on Twitter posted a link to FCC Public
Notice DA-21-9, titled, WIRELESS TELECOMMUNICATIONS BUREAU SEEKS INPUT ON
EXPANDING THE NUMBER OF AMATEUR OPERATOR LICENSE VOLUNTEER EXAMINER
COORDINATORS (all caps theirs). The first paragraph concludes, The Bureau
seeks to determine whether the existing 14 VECs provide adequate support to
volunteer examiners or whether additional VECs are needed.

After a couple of paragraphs explaining what the Amateur Radio Service is,
and the current way in which VECs administer amateur radio license exams,
it asks the following questions:




Are the existing 14 VECs sufficient to coordinate the efforts of volunteer
examiners in preparing and administering examinations for amateur radio
operator licenses, or are additional VECs needed to support the amateur
community?
What needs are currently being met, and which needs, if any, are currently
unmet?
If the Commission were to allow additional VECs, how many additional VECs
are needed to satisfy the existing amateur service operator license
examination needs?
Given VECs use a collaborative process to create the question pool and
operating protocols for how volunteer examiners administer exams, would
additional VECs enhance or hinder this collaborative process?
Finally, we seek comment on how increasing the number of VECs will address
the unmet needs, if any, of the amateur community, as well as on what
obstacles or complications could be created by increasing the number of
VECs?


I was honestly quite surprised by all this. I hadnt heard anything at all
about a desire to add more VECs. Anyone know whos behind this? It seems to
me, that even during this pandemic, folks are able to get their licenses
easily enough.

I think what the FCC might want to do is to determine how active the
current VECs are and set some minimum amount of activity as a requirement
for keeping VEC certification. I recently polled some of the VECs for
another blog post. Several did not respond at all, while one simply replied
that their VEC was no longer really active.

As far as whether or not more VECs wouldÂ* enhance or hinder the question
pool process, I dont think thats the right question. The NCVEC is in charge
of the question pools, and the process is only as collaborative as the
Question Pool Committee allows it to be. I dont think that there being more
VECs will make one whit of difference to the question pool process.

Anyway, Id love to hear what you all think about this, especially if youve
been involved as a VE at all.






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KB6NUs Ham Radio Blog.


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Who are the top ten figures in the history of amateur radio?

Posted: 06 Jan 2021 12:14 PM PST
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Should we consider Samuel Morse to be one of the top ten figures in amateur
radio?

Im working with an author who is working on amateur radio reference book.
It will have a glossary of terms, a list of Q-signals, and some other good
stuff. Yesterday, he sent me a link to the Wikipedia page for Samuel Morse,
the inventor of the Morse Code. He asked, Would this be useful? Can we use
it?

Were having enough trouble getting this book done without adding material
to it, so I jokingly replied, Maybe this is the start of your next book,
something like Profiles in Amateur Radio, short biographies of the 10 most
important figures in the history of amateur radio. I did mean it as a joke,
but the more I think about it, the more I like this idea. Im thinking maybe
short biographies of perhaps the ten most influential people in the history
of amateur radio.

The question, then, is who are these ten people? Heres a list that Ive come
up with off the top of my head:

Samuel Morse, inventor of Morse Code
Guglielmo Marconi, the inventor of radio
Lee de Forest, inventor of the vaccum tube
Hiram Percy Maxim, the first president of the ARRL
Hugo Gernsback, one of the first publishers of radio magazines and the
founder of the Wireless Association of America
Arthur A. Collins founder of Collins Radio
William Halligan, founder of the Hallicrafters Company
Joseph Taylor, Nobel laureate and inventor of many weak-signal digital modes
Howard Anthony, the man who got Heathkit into the electronics business
Wayne Green, W2NSD, editor of CQ and editor/publisher of 73 and various
computer magazines


Id love to get your input on this. Please email me with your
recommendations, or comment below.

The post Who are the top ten figures in the history of amateur radio?
appeared first on KB6NUs Ham Radio Blog.