Operation of an amateur station requires an amateur operator license grant from the FCC.
Before receiving a license grant, you must pass an
examination administered by a team of
volunteer examiners (VEs). The VEs determine the license
operator class for which you are
qualified through the testing of your skills and abilities in operating an amateur station. You can
contact a VE team in your community to make arrangements for being administered the examination
elements you desire. If you need assistance in finding a VE team in your area, contact a
Volunteer Examiner Coordinator (VEC).
After you successfully complete the exam, the VEC collects your
Form 605 document from your VE team
and, after carefully screening it, forwards the information thereon to the FCC for processing, usually electronically.
The VEC may also handle registering an examinee with the FCC. Your operating authority begins when your license
grant information appears on the amateur service licensee database of the Universal Licensing System.
Once initially licensed, Amateur licensees may perform some standard filing tasks in the
Universal Licensing System (ULS), including: