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Re:The Uncertain Future of Ham Radio by stellersjay on Saturday July 11, 2020 @01:16AM (#23799717)
Where are you seeing results for online testing? Seems to be tricky to find as most of the ones I have seen have been cancelled or "no walk-in / call ahead". Also thanks for prompting this and keep ham radio alive :)
Re:The Uncertain Future of Ham Radio by irrational on Saturday July 11, 2020 @02:50AM (#23800142)
Someone in my local area told me about them. Apparently you normally have to go to a community college for 2 days of classes and then take the exam in person. But they did the classes over zoom and the testing over zoom too. I didn’t even need to leave my home to get my license. Nice.

The exam system was figured out by some group in Texas. Their system was approved by the FCC so my local group piggybacked off of the Texas group to do the online exam.

There was a zoom call at a certain time. You had to do certain things to your computer ahead of time to get it ready. When it was time they had me turn the laptop all around to show my room to prove there was no one and nothing other than a plain sheet of paper, a basic calculator, and a pencil nearby. I had to prove the paper was blank and the calculators memory was wiped. I had to have all family members leave the house during the exam. There were five other people on the call all watching me over my camera while I took the test. The proctor took control of my computer to see what I had running and to start the exam. Then I took the exam. I missed one question, but they can’t tell you which one you missed. I really thought I got them all right and it still bothers me not knowing which one I got wrong ;-)

Afterwards the Texas group was given my information and they submitted it to the FCC. I got my license a few weeks later in an email.

Re:The Uncertain Future of Ham Radio by neilv on Saturday July 11, 2020 @10:38AM (#23802508)
That test protocol sounds needlessly invasive and dehumanizing.
Re:The Uncertain Future of Ham Radio by irrational on Saturday July 11, 2020 @12:02PM (#23803151)
Nah, it didn’t bother me at all. It actually made a lot of sense. The test proctors were all very nice.
Re:The Uncertain Future of Ham Radio by roamingryan on Saturday July 11, 2020 @01:33AM (#23799797)
The MIT Radio Society (W1MX) has gotten their online process up and running and is regularly scheduling sessions.

http://w1mx.mit.edu/ham-exams/

Re:The Uncertain Future of Ham Radio by marianov on Saturday July 11, 2020 @09:25AM (#23802043)
It looks like they accept people from abroad. Nowhere do they say you need to be a US citizen. Is that possible?
Re:The Uncertain Future of Ham Radio by roamingryan on Saturday July 11, 2020 @12:00PM (#23803137)
That is correct. US Citizenship is not a requirement, however, I believe you do need to have a US mailing address.
Re:The Uncertain Future of Ham Radio by umpc on Saturday July 11, 2020 @01:23AM (#23799747)
I've heard about various VECs experimenting with online testing by reading the news on QRZ.com or eham.net, though another ham recently mentioned that hamstudy.org now lists online test sessions: https://hamstudy.org/sessions/online

I haven't tried online testing yet. I've been putting off upgrading to Amateur Extra class, though I'll probably try one of those online test sessions eventually.

Re:The Uncertain Future of Ham Radio by beaugunderson on Tuesday July 14, 2020 @12:56AM (#23828666)
I proctored one of the tests administered by KL7AA (Anchorage); I know GLAARG (Los Angeles) is also doing online tests...