Friday, August 8, 2014

First Remote License Exam Session Held at South Pole
Amundsen-South Pole Station, Antarctica
(Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
The day after new FCC rules permitting the remote administration of amateur radio license exams went into effect, the ARRL-VEC administered several exam elements to a half-dozen candidates at the U.S. Amundsen-South Pole Station in Antarctica. 
With one volunteer examiner on-site and two others at the other end of a video link to ARRL headquarters in Connecticut, the ARRL Letter reports that the exam session went off without a hitch and that all candidates earned either new or upgraded licenses, including one who went straight from unlicensed to Amateur Extra.
Two previous remote exam sessions had been held at the South Pole station, but required special FCC permission.