Become a Volunteer Examiner (#96)

Comments · 41

• KG

  @kg7tuo999 · 8 years ago

  Great topic. &nbsp;I took my Tech in May 2015, General some time later. I then got involved with a local club and an affiliated group that offers a combined Tech/General course. Having been formally trained in teaching in the past, I wanted to get involved. I sat in on a couple of classes and they had me teach one cold. &nbsp;They&apos;re technique was to basically sit and read the slide materials to the students. It was interesting but not a very good method. So I spent three weeks watching your Amateur Extra videos and studying up. &nbsp;When that class tested, I took the Extra and passed. &nbsp;As soon as my new privileges appeared in the ULS, I sent in my VE paperwork to the ARRL. &nbsp;<br><br>The next course, I taught the math stuff and though I used their materials, I did it my way. Moving about the class, engaging the students, asking who wanted to run the math on the board, etc. &nbsp;At the end of the session one of the long time teachers couldn&apos;t compliment me enough on how much better that was. &nbsp;AND, the students actually understood the material rather than just relegating themselves to memorizing those math questions.<br><br>When the course was over I had my VE credentials in hand and it was really awesome to hand the CSCE to one of the students who had struggled through the class and say &quot;Congratulations&quot;.<br><br>I would recommend that any new Extra go that little extra bit and get both the VE credentials AND get involved in teaching new HAM&apos;s. It&apos;s rewarding to help new HAM&apos;s get their tickets and teaching the material really makes you better at understanding it yourself.<br><br>Also, while I&apos;ve only been a HAM since May 2015 and an Extra for less than a year, I&apos;m already considered an Elmer. That&apos;s a little intimidating but I do like playing with antennae and aside from teaching, that&apos;s generally what I help folks with. I suppose that&apos;s my &quot;fault&quot; though since I made an antenna out of barbed wire when my Elmer told me it wouldn&apos;t work....and then one out of tubes of water when my Elmer and several others said it couldn&apos;t be done. They&apos;re getting creative though...the latest challenges are to make antennae out of Jalepeno peppers and Lemons. &nbsp;I suspect it can be done and it&apos;s so much fun watching those incredulous looks when you demonstrate such outlandish things. Not to mention it makes people start thinking about how THEY can do something creative.<br><br>Anyway, love your videos and I highly recommend them to students and HAM&apos;s alike.

  7

• GE

  @genebodenberger · 8 years ago

  I spent my career as a Submarine Radioman. Our mantra is that a qualification (or license) is the minimum amount of knowledge and skill to be able to be safe and have permission to continue to learn. The last time (and first time) &nbsp;I took my Extra test, I missed it by one question.

  3

• WJ

  @WJ6FRadio · 8 years ago

  Been a VE for the past 3 years through both ARRL and W5YI Group, and find it one of the best parts of the hobby!

  1

• MA

  @MadDawg91108 · 8 years ago

  I&apos;ve had a lot of fun in this hobby with all that I&apos;ve done..... but being an ARRL VE has been the most rewarding. It gives me great satisfaction every time a hear somebody on the air that has my signature on their CSCE.

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• 40

  @404-Error-Not-Found · 4 years ago

  Got my license last week and applied for a vanity callsign, as soon as I get that new callsign I&apos;ll be applying to become a VE.

• LA

  @Larry4098 · 8 years ago

  Another exception to going to a field office was the Conditional class license. Thanks for you videos

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• WI

  @williambarrett70 · 4 years ago

  Thanks, Dave. Been wondering how to<br>become a VEC ever since I got my Extra.<br>Again, thank you, and 73.<br>William Barrett/WW5MB

• MI

  @MichaelLloyd · 8 years ago

  Hi Dave, This is a great topic and it&apos;s the reason that I found your channel. A few years ago I became active in Ham radio again. I discovered a linked repeater system (The Saltgrass System) and got to know some members of a Houston club. They invited me to sit in on an exam session. It was interesting to watch and it reminded me of that stressful day back in 2001 when I tested for Tech, General, and Extra including the 5WPM code test all in one sitting. It was the last time that I could test with the code (a very important goal even if the &quot;hard way Extra&apos;s&quot; call it Extra Light) requirement and the first time I had ever tested for my license so I really wanted to pass everything. I spent 3 very intensive, non-YouTube months working on taking ALL of the tests. I aced the Tech and General. Missed two on the Extra. The code test was easy. I was up to about 8 WPM when I took the code test. I was licensed as AD5BS (how appropriate is BS for a ham call sign :o) ). Instant Extra. I have to admit that it was a very strange feeling sitting in front of my Yaesu and wondering &quot;now what&quot; when I got home. A passed test does not a Ham operator make. I found some people on the air that helped me along the way so alls well the ends well. One thing I didn&apos;t have to worry about was transmitting out of my approved band. Not knowing any better I applied for and received WM5LL. Later, once my code speed was in the high 20&apos;s, I applied for and received NE5U (faster to send). Every now and then I think about trying to go back to AD5BS but NE5U has grown on me so I think I&apos;ll keep it. &nbsp;I came to your site to see if I still knew all of the Extra subject matter. I didn&apos;t but I wasn&apos;t completely clueless either. I try to spread the word about the value of your training videos as often as I can. I don&apos;t have a club nearby but I may take a look at becoming a VE anyway. Do you ever get on the MegaLink in NM? It might be a stretch for you. I think the closest linked repeater to you is in Bloomfield. Here&apos;s wishing you and yours a prosperous and happy new year. I&apos;m looking forward to seeing you on W5KUB&apos;s broadcast again. I try to tune in every week. 73 &nbsp;NE5U &nbsp;Mike

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• JR

  @jroysdon · 7 years ago

  It&apos;s a very pleasing experience signing off on CSCE forms for new hams! I had the opportunity to do so on a dozen or so yesterday. Our group graded 25 exams, 23 passed - not bad for a 6 hour hamcram session. I suspect some of the folks studied ahead of time as they only missed 1 or 2. The two individuals that failed scored 24/35 right, only missing it be 1 right question, and we encouraged them to do home study and come back next week and test again at the end of the next club meeting. &nbsp;I&apos;ve assisted in about a dozen VE Team exams, and monitored a handful, but mostly been involved on grading, which means my call sign was on hundreds of CSCEs. &nbsp;I wish this was tracked - just to see how &quot;organically&quot; folks were connected and brought into the hobby at the exams.<br><br>I&apos;m starting up a new VE Team as Lead, and while we have 6 folks on our team, one just had health issues, and a couple others may not be able to make it... I don&apos;t like only having just 3 VEs who are planning to make it - too close. So, I&apos;ll be drumming up more VEs in the club, hence the reason I&apos;m watching this video.<br><br>Yes, yes, we understand the hamcram isn&apos;t the way to really go. &nbsp;We have hand-outs we give with more info on how to continue. &nbsp;This includes follow-up meetings and education sessions we have available, Gordon West and ARRL study guides, and of course the KE0OG YouTube channels. &nbsp;But really what we try to do is guide them into what and where to go next depending on what their interests are. &nbsp;If it&apos;s just Overload Bound, we point them at the lists of local repeaters and guides on how to program their radios. &nbsp;We have a list of suggested projects to investigate for those who came working on a Scout badge. &nbsp;We point RC Aircraft at the band plan specifics, or whatever is going to help them actual using ham radio. &nbsp;That may be as much as they ever learn, but most will continue on to check out other interested as well once they get their primary goal satisfied. &nbsp;Many come back to a few of our general club meetings - we give a complimentary annual membership to anyone who just passed any exam with one of the local clubs. &nbsp;Some will come to one of our monthly ARES meetings - which is really the best, because we&apos;re an active group and do a dozen field events, from bike races, foot races, parades, hospital/cooling shelter mock activations, all opportunities to use the gear and skills.

• NI

  @NIKO_92865 · 4 years ago

  I did VE for small town in Utah. &nbsp; back in 1992, when I got extra class. &nbsp;there was only &nbsp;4 , 5 extra in the area, not all of them were VE, so they had shortage of extra class VE , so I was recruited right away after passing extra class. &nbsp; I had a great experience, met a lot of people doing VE, &nbsp;once we had to cancel the exam, because we did not have enough VE, two VE did not show up. &nbsp; after I move to bigger city, I was not active doing VE anymore, &nbsp;plenty of VE in big cities. &nbsp; we had group of scouts 20 young boy and girls &nbsp;came to VE session very often. &nbsp; I guess Ham radio are more popular in rural Utah, &nbsp; and much more useful. &nbsp; AG6JU

• ED

  @edwardtatro5294 · 8 years ago

  Great topic Dave. I’m a General Class ARRL V.E. and I have yet been able to help administer an exam. In my area in Florida, Generals seem to be discriminated against even at my club where I am an instructor they don’t want Generals only Extras in their VE pool. I hope to be able to be on the other side soon and welcome someone to the hobby de KC1FLG.

• JI

  @jimmack6744 · 8 years ago

  I became an extra in October and just last week applied for the ARRL VEC program.