Amateur radio licensing in the United States

In the United States, amateur radio licensing is governed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) under strict federal regulations. Licenses to operate amateur stations for personal use are granted to individuals of any age once they demonstrate an understanding of both pertinent FCC regulations and knowledge of radio station operation and safety considerations. Applicants as young as five years old have passed examinations and were granted licenses. December 2012 marked one hundred years of amateur radio operator and station licensing by the United States government.

Operator licenses are divided into different classes, each of which corresponds to an increasing degree of knowledge and corresponding privileges. Over the years, the details of the classes have changed significantly, leading to the current system of three open classes and two grandfathered (but closed to new applicants) classes.

Amateur radio licenses in the United States are issued and renewed by the Federal Communications Commission without charge, although the private individuals who administer the examinations may recoup their expenses by charging a fee. Licenses currently remain valid for 10 years from the date of issuance or renewal. Renewal can be done on-line.

From February 17, 2015 onwards, the FCC stopped routinely sending paper copies of licenses to licensees (the official license being the FCC's electronic record). However, it would continue sending paper copies upon a licensee's request or a licensee could print it out online from the FCC's data base.

The FCC classifications of licensing have evolved considerably since the program's inception (see History of US amateur licensing, below). When the FCC made the most recent changes it allowed certain existing operator classes to remain under a grandfather clause. These licenses would no longer be issued to new applicants, but existing licenses may be modified or renewed indefinitely.

Any individual, except for a representative of a foreign government, regardless of citizenship who wishes to apply for a US amateur radio license must appear before Volunteer Examiners (VEs) any person who qualifies by examination is eligible to apply for an operator/primary station license grant. VEs are licensed radio amateurs who conduct examination sessions, frequently through permanently established teams on a monthly or quarterly basis. VEs are governed by Volunteer Examinator Coordinators (VECs), organizations that "coordinate the efforts of Volunteer Examiners ... in preparing and administering amateur service operator license examinations." Although the FCC currently recognizes 14 VECs, the two largest VEC organizations are the one sponsored by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) and the one started by W5YI, now sold and operated by another party. The ARRL VEC coordinates about two-thirds of all U.S. license examinations.

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