D I X I E A M A T E U R
R A D I O
C L U B , I N C .
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![]() MONTHLY GENERAL CLUB MEETING INFORMATION ![]() The next club meeting will be held at the St. George Community Building on Wednesday, May 18, 2022 at 7:00 p.m. The Club meeting will be at the usual
location, in the St. George Community Building located behind the
St. George Active Life Center which is at 245 N 200 W, St. George,
Utah. PLEASE NOTE: The Community Building is not the Active
Life Center. Drive to the back of the Active Life Center property and
you will see a smaller building that is about the size of a doublewide
manufactured home. It clearly says St. George Community Building.
Club Meetings are normally held on the third Wednesday of each month except in December when an informal social event/dinner is scheduled). Besides our Club members, who are always
encouraged to attend
our club meetings, anyone in the community
who has an interest in learning more about
Amateur Radio is invited to attend. There
is no better way to learn about Amateur Radio than
coming out to a club meeting, introducing yourself,
and asking questions. The only "dumb" questions
are ones that are not asked. Please come and ask!
There will be someone there willing to
continue the long-standing tradition in ham radio
of taking a prospective Amateur under their wing and
tutoring you (known in ham radio parlance as "Elmering"-
the tutor being your "Elmer").
MEETINGS OF THE CLUB'S ELECTED BOARD: Please see the DARC Board page (see
"DARC Board" link at bottom of any page on this site) for information
on the Club Board meetings.
All members of the Club and the public
are invited to attend and observe Board Meetings.
MAP OF CLUB MEETING LOCATION: Click on this LINK to view the regular
Club Meeting location
on Google Maps. If the location is changed
for a particular meeting it will be announced
above and on the Club's web site home page and in
the current Club Newsletter.
AMATEUR RADIO LICENSE EXAMS THIS IS MANDATORY: IF YOU INTEND TO TAKE THE EXAM FOR THE TECHNICIAN CLASS LICENSE YOU MUST REGISTER FOR AND RECEIVE AN "FRN NUMBER" FROM THE FCC BEFORE YOU COME TO THE TEST SESSION. IT IS DONE ONLINE AND YOU WILL RECIEVE YOUR FRN# IMMEDIATELY. YOU MUST DO THIS IN ADVANCE AND BRING THAT NUMBER OR YOU WILL NOT BE PERMITTED TO TAKE THE EXAM - THERE WILL BE ABSOLUTELY NO EXCEPTIONS! THE V.E.'s CANNOT DO THIS FOR YOU. SEE THE IMPORTANT INFORMATION BELOW ON HOW TO GET YOUR FRN # BEFORE YOU COME TO THE SESSION: IMPORTANT! FIRST-TIME APPLICANTS MUST READ THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS NOTICE: FRN-INFORMATION.PDF LINK: PRIOR to coming to an exam session you are REQUIRED to obtain your FRN number from the FCC - if you are not currently licensed. Go to the FCC at this link: https://apps.fcc.gov/coresWeb/publicHome.do Choose REGISTER in the center and follow the directions. Make note of the FRN # it assigns you. It has leading zeros at the front. We will need all those numbers. We MUST use the FRN # that you are REQUIRED to bring. Bring your FRN # to the test session. If you show up without it we will wish you well, and see you the following month. You will not be permitted to take an exam without your FRN #. The following should provide all of the information you will need prior to coming in for your exam. Note: All times listed are Mountain Time zone times. ![]() For those wanting to take the FCC test for a new Amateur Radio license or upgrade to a higher license class, there is a regularly scheduled ARRL Volunteer Examiner-administered exam test session held at 5:30 p.m. on the third Wednesday of each month, except in December. The test session is held prior to the Club's monthly meeting that follows after the V.E. session. The monthly V.E. exam is held at the same location as the Club Meeting that follows at 7:00 p.m. It is the St. George Community Building located behind the St. George Active Life Center which is at 245 N 200 W, St. George, Utah. Drive to the back (southwest corner) of the Active Life Center property and you will see a smaller building that has signage identifying it as the St. George Community Buidling. That is where the testing take place. Click on this LINK to view the test location on Google Maps.
We also have 6 additional exam sessions held on specific Saturdays during the year: In addition to the eleven monthly 3rd Wednesday test sessions (January through November), we offer V.E. sessions on six Saturdays each year. They are normally scheduled on the 2nd Saturday of each of the even-numbered months during the year. This is so those who cannot participate in the monthly 3rd Wednesday V.E. exam session will have an opportunity to take a test with our V.E. team. The Saturday sessions will be held at the Hurricane City Branch Library, in the Community Room, and will start at 2:00 p.m. The address of the Hurricane Library is 36 South 300 West, Hurricane, Utah.
RULES REGARDING OUR EXAM SESSIONS - PLEASE READ THIS AND SCROLL DOWN FOR MORE INFO: The ARRL-VEC Amateur Radio Exam test sessions are open to any candidate who is there to take an Amateur Radio exam element, or elements. Walk-ins are always permitted. The only other person who may accompany the candidate into the exam location room are the following: the parent or gaurdian of a minor; the driver for those who require another to drive them to the test; a spouse, or significant other of the candidate. No other persons will be admitted into the exam location room until all test candidates have completed their exams. This includes ham operators at the St. George session location coming early for the 7:00 p.m. Club Meeting. Only V.E.s who are currently certified with the ARRL-VEC may be in the exam locatuion room, if there to particpate in the test session. If there are sufficient V.E.s present to grade exams, any certified V.E. may remain in the room to observe the testing for any possible impropriety by a candidate, or an examiner. Our exam sessions do NOT utilize plastic answer overlay sheets to grade the multiple choice exams. A V.E. Team can choose whether or not to use the plastic overlays. We have chosen to not use the overlays. Due to having sufficient Volunteer Examiners, we have chosen to grade each exam element verbally, from an answer key sheet. Our V.E.s will, in pairs, quietly, but verbally, grade each exam. At least two grading teams of two persons with a one different person in each team, will grade the exam. When the candidate's correct answers are quite close to the pass/fail number, they may be graded a third time to ensure the accuracy of the score. Our intent is that the only speaking during the exam be done in a quiet, library-like voice. We will situate the tables that the candidate take their exams at a sufficient distance from the grading tables so that disturbance to candidates during the exam is minimized.
Tests are also given by other ARRL-VEC affiliated groups across the USA: General Information about our test sessions: If you intend to take more than one class of license at the exam (such as if you pass the Technician and wish to attempt the General) please inform the V.E. team as soon as you arrive. We will do our best to accomodate you. Also, if you happen to fail an exam element, you may make a second attempt to do so. By policy, we are required to collect an additional $15 fee for the "second" session which is treated just like a seperate session. If you pass the Technician and wish to try the General, you are not required to pay a second fee. We can explain this to you at the session. "Walk-ins" are always welcome, especially those travelling from outside the area. Sending the Test Session Liaison an e-mail is greatly appreciated! This will give advance notice to the our V.E. Team of your intent to take a test and helps us to better prepare for that test session with the correct numbers of necessary exam materials and additional VE's on hand for large numbers of applicants. We will open the doors to the Community Building at, or slightly before, 5:30 p.m. and we will begin to assist you in filling out the required test session registration paperwork. We have the session scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m. so that test session participants can have as much time as needed to complete their exam before Club members arrive for the general Club Meeting at 7:00 p.m. Those taking their tests should consider staying for the Club meeting after the exam session. Everyone is welcome at our Club meetings! As soon as we have 3 Volunteer Examiners in attendance, and your paperwork is complete, you will be able to begin taking your exam. Thanks for your patience and cooperation in all of this. Remember that we are volunteers! Please see the information below so that you can come well prepared for the exam session: What you need to bring:
Talking amongst other applicants is not permitted at any time during the testing period. You must not write in or make any notes or marks in the exam booklet! What does it cost? You must bring a personal check
or a money order in the amount of $15.00 payable to "ARRL-VEC",
or alternatively, you may bring $15.00 cash to the
test session.
If paying by cash, you must bring the exact amount only! Do not count on any change being available! We are not a bank or ATM - debit/credit cards cannot be used. This required fee is set annually by the Volunteer Exam Coordinator (in our case the ARRL-VEC). This required fee is not set by the Dixie Amateur Radio Club, Inc. It should be noted that the ARRL-VEC has decided to leave the fee unchanged at $15.00 for exams in 2022. If you do not have your fee at the beginning of the session, you will not be able to take a test. This is a program requirement. You must bring the required fee with you. Are you a ARRL-VEC Certified Examineer who is willling and able to to help? If you are already a ARRL-VEC certified
Volunteer Examiner
who would like to help out at an upcoming
session, please contact Gary Zabriskie, N7ARE,
at n7are@arrl.net.
If you are interested
in becoming a ARRL-VEC Cerified Volunteer
Examineer, especially if you are an Extra Class
licensee, also please contact Gary.
What if you have a large group of potential exam applicants (i.e. church groups, etc.): From time to time larger groups and
oganizations take part in organized classroom instruction in anticipation
of testing to obtain
an Amateur Radio license. There
is the opportunity to have the Club's Volunteer
Examiner team schedule additional testing
opportunities besides the monthly scheduled
exam date that cooincides with the Club meeting.
Please contact Gary Zabriskie (see above) if you would like to discuss this option. If such a test session is scheduled it will be advertised on the home page of the Club's web site. Do I need to "Pre-Register" to take the exam? You are not required need to.
As mentioned above, "walk-ins" are always accepted and welcomed.
However, as a courtesy,
if you are planning to upgrade or take your
initial ham radio exam, please notify Gary Zabriskie,
N7ARE, ARRL VEC-Volunteer Exam Session
Liaison, via e-mail: n7are@arrl.net
Who are the
ARRL-VEC certified
Volunteer Examiners who may be conducting your
exam sessions in St. George & Hurricane?:
How many applicants were provided Amateur Radio exam opportunities in the past several years? Members
of the Dixie Amateur Radio Club
who are ARRL-VEC certified Volunteer Examiners
conduct seventeen (17) scheduled Amateur Radio
test sessions each year here in southwestern
Utah.
Every single session is available for any "walk-in" applicant. We pride ourselves in not requiring pre-registration to take an examination. Registration in the FCC's ULS system to obtain an FRN number is required as per the requirements of the ARRL-VEC. Please thank each of these volunteers when you see them. They all devote a considerable amount of time and effort to help serve the needs of the Amateur Radio community.
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