AG16
QST de W1AW  
ARRL Bulletin 16  ARLB016
>From ARRL Headquarters  
Newington CT  August 18, 2017
To all radio amateurs 

SB QST ARL ARLB016
ARLB016 Revised NCVEC Form 605 Must Be Used at Exam Sessions
Starting on August 21

With a revised FCC Form 605 - Quick-Form Application for
Authorization in the Ship, Aircraft, Amateur, Restricted and
Commercial Operator, and General Mobile Radio Services - soon going
into effect, the National Conference of Volunteer Examiner
Coordinators (NCVEC) has updated its unofficial NCVEC Form 605
that's used at volunteer examination sessions. The revised NCVEC
Form 605 must be used at exam sessions starting on August 21. Both
the new FCC and NCVEC forms ask applicants if they have been
convicted of a felony in any state or federal court. This conforms
with FCC requirements to evaluate an applicant's qualifications to
hold any FCC-issued license. The FCC has been asking 'the felony
question' on other forms, and its omission on Form 605 was an
apparent oversight.

An applicant's response and explanation to the felony question - now
included on NCVEC Form 605 - will be used to determine eligibility
to be a Commission licensee. If the answer to the felony question is
'yes,' the applicant must submit to FCC - separately from NCVEC Form
605 - a statement (the FCC calls it an 'exhibit') explaining the
circumstances. Such applications will be held for a basic
qualification review, something the FCC already does for other
licensed radio services. The FCC's Wireless Telecommunications
Bureau has said that an affirmative answer to the felony question
does not mean that an application will be denied automatically.

An applicant's answer to the felony question and their exhibit will
be publically viewable via the Universal Licensing System (ULS). The
applicant can request that all or part of the exhibit be kept
confidential, and it will not be visible to the public.

VECs will not handle exhibits and confidentiality requests; these
must be filed with the FCC by the applicant.

Applicants must answer the felony question only when filing NCVEC
Form 605 or FCC Form 605 for a New, Amendment, Modification (upgrade
or call sign change), or Renewal/Modification (changes at renewal
time). The question does not have to be answered if the applicant is
filing a renewal or an administrative update (change of address,
name, e-mail address, etc).

New NCVEC 605 Forms and an Applicant information sheet for use at
ARRL Volunteer Examiner Coordinator exam sessions starting on August
21 have been published. VEC teams should discard all existing
versions of the NCVEC Form 605; they no longer will be valid and
cannot be used going forward.

The FCC has indicated that all VECs must begin submitting this
additional data starting on September 7. NCVEC decided to make
August 21 the effective date to accommodate mail schedules and the
Labor Day holiday.

NCVEC Form 605 has not been revised since the Commission
restructured Amateur Radio license classes 17 years ago.