Good news for anyone who previously held a General or Amateur Extra class license and allowed it to lapse! The ARRL has just announced that the FCC has approved a change to the rules for obtaining an Amateur Radio license allowing those who previously held a General or Amateur Extra class license but allowed it to lapse (2 years past the expiration date) to regain that level after only taking the Element 2 (Technician) license exam.
Previously if you allowed the two-year grace period to expire you would need to retake all exams and no free credit was given for the expired license.
The good
We see a lot of people who have been out of the hobby for awhile and decide they want to get back in. This will make it a lot easier for those interested in HF or otherwise wanting to regain their higher license privileges! I’m sure there will be a lot of people who take advantage of this new ruling.
The bad
There is a possibly small but very vocal movement of people in the Amateur communities that feel strongly that the changes made to Amateur Radio licensing in the United States in the last ten to twenty years has lowered the overall technical competence of ham radio operators in the nation.
While I’m not sure that I agree with that (or perhaps I don’t see it as the same level of problem that they do) I certainly expect that this will fuel that perspective.
Time frame
While we don’t know the exact day that this will take place yet, the ARRL article states that “The new rules become effective 30 days after their publication in The Federal Register, which is expected to happen this week.“
By FCC to allow expired General, Extra class operators to relicense by taking the Tech | Suffolk County Radio Club - W2DQ June 17, 2014 - 06:52
[…] on June 17, 2014 by Bob Posted on June 11, 2014 by […]
By bruce blosser April 13, 2017 - 22:02
why doesn’t this apply to persons previously holding an Advanced class license?
By kd7bbc April 13, 2017 - 22:12
Well, look at it this way: it does apply to persons previously holding an Advanced class license. After passing the Technician test they automatically get credit for passing any other elements that they previously took — in this case both the General and the Advanced. Unfortunately, passing the advanced does not do you any good anymore, so despite the fact that they have credit for it they still only get a General =]
The point here is that this does not give them back their previous license, it gives them a new license with credit for whatever elements they previously passed that were higher than the Tech. The FCC doesn’t issue new Advanced licenses and they don’t give you back your old license, so….
Obviously I don’t work for the FCC, but that’s my understanding.
By CESAR CRISTOBAL July 7, 2020 - 23:03
You are right. That leaves you the choice of upgrading by taking Element 4 written
or virtually “downgrading” to Technician.
Shouldn’t be too time consuming to study Element 4 (no more CW).
I am going to take Element 2 myself on July 11 @11 in Pasadena.