(Source: Southgate ARC)
The first remote all-online amateur radio Technician license exam was carried out in the United States on March 26, 2020
Marcel Stieber @AI6MS Tweeted:
Yesterday [March 26], our working group ran an “all-virtual” amateur radio technician license exam for the first time in history! Thanks to @W5YI for being supportive of this effort. Stay tuned, we hope to have a scalable solution available for broader use soon!
https://twitter.com/AI6MS/status/1243772831415988225Joseph Talbot sat the exam and his FCC Technician license callsign KJ7NNU was granted on March 27. His entry in the FCC database can be seen at
https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/license.jsp?licKey=4267101Since 2010 there have been other exams sessions carried out remotely but they have had an in-person proctor present at the exam session. This was the first remote online Technician exam session carried out with everybody online.
On March 15 Sam Hulick had tweeted Ajit Pai, Chairman of the USA’s communications regulator FCC, asking:
Please open up amateur radio exams/licensing remotely. People should not be attending physical classes to be able to obtain a license.
https://twitter.com/SamHulick/status/1239259361932906497FCC Chairman Ajit Pai speedily tweeted his reply just 14 minutes later
Thanks for the suggestion. Let me look into this—stay tuned
https://twitter.com/AjitPaiFCC/status/1239262974939971585On March 24 Stirling Mann @N0SSC reported Remote Testing Working Group Underway
http://n0ssc.com/posts/1044-anchorage-vec-remote-testing-results-in-a-new-extra-remote-testing-working-group-underway