December 18, 2025 • 10 mins
Article Link - https://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-vec-ready-to-file-2-500-ham-radio-license-applications-fcc-extends-renewal-filing-deadline
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
During the government shutdown, the FCC was kind of working,
kind of not was working on what they called essential items,
whatever the heck that's defined as okay, But during that
time they were not issuing renewals or new Ham radio licenses,
(00:21):
but VEES, volunteer examiners and vec's Volunteer exam coordinator groups
were still giving Ham radio tests and Ham radio upgrade
tests and new license tests. And during that time forty
three days of government shutdown, they took about twenty five
hundred new applications for amateur radio licenses. So, guys, that
(00:45):
tells me the amateur radio is just freaking dying. I
did a video last week. Not sure the timing of
the premieres of all these, but last week I recorded
a video about how is HAM radio outdated? Is it dying?
Is the numbers are dwindling? And you know, we proved
that that part was wrong, okay, because since two thousand
(01:08):
and seven or so, the numbers have been going up,
either going up or staying steady. Watch that video. You
can see more about that over there. But I found
this article. Thanks Carlos for sending this to me. Carlos
the Skydiving Monkey parachute Jesus as they call him. He
sent me this article. He's like, dude, this is right
up your ally. I'm like, yep, you're right about that.
(01:30):
ABORLVC ready to file twenty five hundred plus twenty five
hundred plus Ham Radio license applications. FCC extends renewal filing date.
So if your FCC Ham Radio license or GMRS license
or other personal radio license it talks about right here,
amateur ship ship license, aircraft GMRS commercial operator's license, if
(01:53):
that was up for renewal during this government shutdown, you've
received an extension. You've received an extension. Renewal filings originally
due on October first through and including March fifth of
twenty twenty six are now due on March fifth of
twenty twenty six. So everything that was expired, everything that
was coming up for renewal between the first of October
(02:16):
twenty twenty five and the fifth of March twenty twenty six,
almost six months, five months worth of renewals have all
been pushed to March fifth, So you've got several months.
You have a year and a half for the amateur
radio license. You have a year and a half after
your license. If you let it expire, you have a
year and a half to renew it without taking a test. Again,
you can't operate during that time, but you can just
(02:38):
renew it and not take a test and go on
about your day. But this is a story on the
ABRL website. It is got a lot of information about
the government shut down here and it says let's see
on Thursday morning. So the first thing I noticed is
the original article was on eleven eighteen, which at the
time of this recording was about three days ago. They
updated it yesterday, updated eleon twenty five. FCC system issues
(03:03):
affecting application processing. So the website's not working big and
a lot of you have commented saying I've tried to
get the website to work. I tried to get my
GMRS license. You just go in there and sign your
name and put, you know, fill out the form and
pay your thirty five bucks and you get a GMRS license.
And I have heard reports of that failing recently as well.
(03:27):
So on Thursday morning, an official alert was posted on
the FCC website about the FCC systems experiencing significant performance
degradation right here. I don't know if we're just bombarding
it too much, or if their website just sucks. I'm
not sure. While some applications were successfully processed yesterday afternoon,
it appears that currently the EBF system is no longer
(03:49):
accepting applications. According to the website, there will be substantial
delays in retrieving such search results, slower delay processing of
new apps, modifications, renewals, assigned is transfers and other filings,
intermittent timeouts during submission, general sluggishness, inability to complete application
fee payments. Okay. FCC technical staff and contractors are actively
(04:12):
investigating the cause in are working to restore normal system
performance as quickly as possible. Issue is being treated with
the highest priority, highest party. The FCC gives anyway. Commission
will post additional notices when system performance has been restored.
In La la la la during the shut Now this
is the cool part right here. During the shutdown, the
able r l VEC urged volunteer examiners to continue giving
(04:35):
Ham radio exams. See important information from for abrl VEC
exam candidates. Quote. We have over twenty five hundred license
applications queued up, said Soma Soma's referring to manager Maria
Soma AB one FM ablel VC Maria Soma, and she
(04:56):
explained that the announcement means the amateurs whose license expired
here or will expire between October first and March fifth,
may continue to operate until completing a license renewal by
March fifth. So you can continue to operate even if
your license is expired in October. Just keep going because
now your renewal date has been pushed back to March fifth. So,
she says, we have over twenty five hundred licensed applications
(05:18):
queued up. She noted that the A double orl VEC
has already started to file the backlog of applications at
least start quote again, at least for now when the
FCC again resumes processing, they are limiting each use each
EBF user like a double or l VEC to upload
no more than seventy five applications per hour per hour.
(05:38):
Seventy five applications per hour. When I first read that,
I thought that said per day. It says seventy five
applications per hour. To ensure the system is stable, she
asks applicants to be patient during the FCC process backlog
for a double l VC exam candidates who are unable
to get an FCC FRN. If you have a GMRS
(05:59):
license or a GOROLL license, or any type of any
type of radio lessons at all, you have a FCC
registration number what's called an FRN, and the FCC cords
system was unavailable, Please follow these steps to ensure your
license applications ready to be processed promptly once the EBF
system comes back online. So that gives some steps here
(06:20):
to And I've heard some of this as well. I've
heard some people saying that, hey, I can't even get
an f r A number, I can't log into the website,
there's some kind of error, it's slow, it's sluggish, whatnot.
And I've been hearing that for a while. Actually, I
don't know if they took any of that down during
the forty three day government shutdown. Regardless, we have we
have over twenty five hundred applications and it doesn't really
(06:44):
break down. Are they new applications and renewals? I don't know.
It sounds like they're new applications to me. Now you
say new applications, there might be people who have their
tech or general license that went into a VC and
took their extra test or took their general upgrade from
technician test and got that upgrade, and that might be
one of those twenty five hundred I don't know if
(07:05):
it's twenty five hundred brand new people or not. This
article does not break it down that specifically, and quite frankly,
they probably don't have that information until they loaded into
a computer somewhere and then have the numbers read back
to them. So I don't know. I don't know how
they're doing it. And you know, if they're using exam tools,
then it's probably calculating it pretty accurately. If they're using
(07:26):
paper logs, which is still a thing, then who knows
how many it is. But either way, either way, if
you are interested in getting your Ham Radio license or
your upgrade, I highly recommend Ham Radio Prep go to
Ham radioprep dot com. Check out all of their license
courses license classes. During Black Friday during the month of
November and end of December, they are offering a huge
(07:48):
bundle of all of their courses for a very deep
discounted price. They have a satellite course, they have an
MCom course, they have a Bowlfang basics or a radio
basics course. They have an HF radio course. They have
all three lives courses for Technician, General, and Extra. They're
offering a Black Friday discount on that entire package, and
in addition to that, you can save a twenty percent
discount with the coupon code of Jason twenty. Jason twenty
(08:11):
will get you twenty percent off of all of their packages,
individual courses or a bundle package anything from Hamradio Prep
dot com. Appreciate those guys support over the last two
or three years. They've been a good sponsor of the channel.
They're fun to talk to at hamfests. They've gotten a
lot of people licensed over the course of the last
few years. So Hamradio Prep dot com go check them
(08:33):
out and get on the bandwagon to get your imateure
radio license like these other twenty five hundred people right here.
But if you have if you are having problem getting
your frin, here is what you do and I will
put a link to this article in the description blow
so you guys can go check that out. Register for
your CORESE account at this url right here. Apps dot
FCC dot gov, slash CORSE, slash log in userlog in
(08:55):
dot do using your email address and your username, verify
your account and log in to obtain your FCCFRN. Be
sure to register as an individual entered your personal information
exactly as it appears on your photo ID. When you
receive your FRN, save it carefully. This is your permanent
FCC identifier. Send your name, test date, and new FRN
(09:15):
to ablel VC email VEC at a doblel dot org
and there we go. There's other vcs out there. Glarg
Alaska has a VC, WIYI has a VC. A DOUBLEL
is one of many VCS Volunteer Exam Coordinator group that
is out there. They do a fantastic job. And if
(09:38):
you go through another VC, that's totally fine as well.
Just go study and go get your hand radio license. So,
but twenty five hundred applications waiting, twenty five hundred in
forty three days. In the last forty three days the
government was shut down for forty three days. They reopened
the government about about a week ago at the time
(09:58):
of this recording, around November thirteen, okay, but prior to
that it was forty three day and apparently a week
ago they still can't get the website to work. So
I don't know, but yeah, twenty five hundred plus backlog
applications for amateur radio licensed guys. Amateur radio is not dying.
It's getting more popular, it's getting better, it's evolving, but
(10:19):
it is not dying. I'd like to know have you
experienced problems with the FCC website? Have you tried even GMRS?
Have you tried to get a GMRS license? Have you
tried to get an FRN. Have you tried to get
your HAM radio license upgrade? Or have you taken a
new exam and you're still waiting on your call sign.
You're still waiting on your upgrade because everything's been so
(10:40):
slow right now during this government shutdown. Put a comment
in the description below let me know what your specific
situation is. I would love to hear from you. Seventy three.
If you enjoy this video, check out these videos over
here because this is what YouTube thinks you want to
watch next. Seventy three
During the government shutdown, the FCC was kind of working,
kind of not was working on what they called essential items,
whatever the heck that's defined as okay, But during that
time they were not issuing renewals or new Ham radio licenses,
(00:21):
but VEES, volunteer examiners and vec's Volunteer exam coordinator groups
were still giving Ham radio tests and Ham radio upgrade
tests and new license tests. And during that time forty
three days of government shutdown, they took about twenty five
hundred new applications for amateur radio licenses. So, guys, that
(00:45):
tells me the amateur radio is just freaking dying. I
did a video last week. Not sure the timing of
the premieres of all these, but last week I recorded
a video about how is HAM radio outdated? Is it dying?
Is the numbers are dwindling? And you know, we proved
that that part was wrong, okay, because since two thousand
(01:08):
and seven or so, the numbers have been going up,
either going up or staying steady. Watch that video. You
can see more about that over there. But I found
this article. Thanks Carlos for sending this to me. Carlos
the Skydiving Monkey parachute Jesus as they call him. He
sent me this article. He's like, dude, this is right
up your ally. I'm like, yep, you're right about that.
(01:30):
ABORLVC ready to file twenty five hundred plus twenty five
hundred plus Ham Radio license applications. FCC extends renewal filing date.
So if your FCC Ham Radio license or GMRS license
or other personal radio license it talks about right here,
amateur ship ship license, aircraft GMRS commercial operator's license, if
(01:53):
that was up for renewal during this government shutdown, you've
received an extension. You've received an extension. Renewal filings originally
due on October first through and including March fifth of
twenty twenty six are now due on March fifth of
twenty twenty six. So everything that was expired, everything that
was coming up for renewal between the first of October
(02:16):
twenty twenty five and the fifth of March twenty twenty six,
almost six months, five months worth of renewals have all
been pushed to March fifth, So you've got several months.
You have a year and a half for the amateur
radio license. You have a year and a half after
your license. If you let it expire, you have a
year and a half to renew it without taking a test. Again,
you can't operate during that time, but you can just
(02:38):
renew it and not take a test and go on
about your day. But this is a story on the
ABRL website. It is got a lot of information about
the government shut down here and it says let's see
on Thursday morning. So the first thing I noticed is
the original article was on eleven eighteen, which at the
time of this recording was about three days ago. They
updated it yesterday, updated eleon twenty five. FCC system issues
(03:03):
affecting application processing. So the website's not working big and
a lot of you have commented saying I've tried to
get the website to work. I tried to get my
GMRS license. You just go in there and sign your
name and put, you know, fill out the form and
pay your thirty five bucks and you get a GMRS license.
And I have heard reports of that failing recently as well.
(03:27):
So on Thursday morning, an official alert was posted on
the FCC website about the FCC systems experiencing significant performance
degradation right here. I don't know if we're just bombarding
it too much, or if their website just sucks. I'm
not sure. While some applications were successfully processed yesterday afternoon,
it appears that currently the EBF system is no longer
(03:49):
accepting applications. According to the website, there will be substantial
delays in retrieving such search results, slower delay processing of
new apps, modifications, renewals, assigned is transfers and other filings,
intermittent timeouts during submission, general sluggishness, inability to complete application
fee payments. Okay. FCC technical staff and contractors are actively
(04:12):
investigating the cause in are working to restore normal system
performance as quickly as possible. Issue is being treated with
the highest priority, highest party. The FCC gives anyway. Commission
will post additional notices when system performance has been restored.
In La la la la during the shut Now this
is the cool part right here. During the shutdown, the
able r l VEC urged volunteer examiners to continue giving
(04:35):
Ham radio exams. See important information from for abrl VEC
exam candidates. Quote. We have over twenty five hundred license
applications queued up, said Soma Soma's referring to manager Maria
Soma AB one FM ablel VC Maria Soma, and she
(04:56):
explained that the announcement means the amateurs whose license expired
here or will expire between October first and March fifth,
may continue to operate until completing a license renewal by
March fifth. So you can continue to operate even if
your license is expired in October. Just keep going because
now your renewal date has been pushed back to March fifth. So,
she says, we have over twenty five hundred licensed applications
(05:18):
queued up. She noted that the A double orl VEC
has already started to file the backlog of applications at
least start quote again, at least for now when the
FCC again resumes processing, they are limiting each use each
EBF user like a double or l VEC to upload
no more than seventy five applications per hour per hour.
(05:38):
Seventy five applications per hour. When I first read that,
I thought that said per day. It says seventy five
applications per hour. To ensure the system is stable, she
asks applicants to be patient during the FCC process backlog
for a double l VC exam candidates who are unable
to get an FCC FRN. If you have a GMRS
(05:59):
license or a GOROLL license, or any type of any
type of radio lessons at all, you have a FCC
registration number what's called an FRN, and the FCC cords
system was unavailable, Please follow these steps to ensure your
license applications ready to be processed promptly once the EBF
system comes back online. So that gives some steps here
(06:20):
to And I've heard some of this as well. I've
heard some people saying that, hey, I can't even get
an f r A number, I can't log into the website,
there's some kind of error, it's slow, it's sluggish, whatnot.
And I've been hearing that for a while. Actually, I
don't know if they took any of that down during
the forty three day government shutdown. Regardless, we have we
have over twenty five hundred applications and it doesn't really
(06:44):
break down. Are they new applications and renewals? I don't know.
It sounds like they're new applications to me. Now you
say new applications, there might be people who have their
tech or general license that went into a VC and
took their extra test or took their general upgrade from
technician test and got that upgrade, and that might be
one of those twenty five hundred I don't know if
(07:05):
it's twenty five hundred brand new people or not. This
article does not break it down that specifically, and quite frankly,
they probably don't have that information until they loaded into
a computer somewhere and then have the numbers read back
to them. So I don't know. I don't know how
they're doing it. And you know, if they're using exam tools,
then it's probably calculating it pretty accurately. If they're using
(07:26):
paper logs, which is still a thing, then who knows
how many it is. But either way, either way, if
you are interested in getting your Ham Radio license or
your upgrade, I highly recommend Ham Radio Prep go to
Ham radioprep dot com. Check out all of their license
courses license classes. During Black Friday during the month of
November and end of December, they are offering a huge
(07:48):
bundle of all of their courses for a very deep
discounted price. They have a satellite course, they have an
MCom course, they have a Bowlfang basics or a radio
basics course. They have an HF radio course. They have
all three lives courses for Technician, General, and Extra. They're
offering a Black Friday discount on that entire package, and
in addition to that, you can save a twenty percent
discount with the coupon code of Jason twenty. Jason twenty
(08:11):
will get you twenty percent off of all of their packages,
individual courses or a bundle package anything from Hamradio Prep
dot com. Appreciate those guys support over the last two
or three years. They've been a good sponsor of the channel.
They're fun to talk to at hamfests. They've gotten a
lot of people licensed over the course of the last
few years. So Hamradio Prep dot com go check them
(08:33):
out and get on the bandwagon to get your imateure
radio license like these other twenty five hundred people right here.
But if you have if you are having problem getting
your frin, here is what you do and I will
put a link to this article in the description blow
so you guys can go check that out. Register for
your CORESE account at this url right here. Apps dot
FCC dot gov, slash CORSE, slash log in userlog in
(08:55):
dot do using your email address and your username, verify
your account and log in to obtain your FCCFRN. Be
sure to register as an individual entered your personal information
exactly as it appears on your photo ID. When you
receive your FRN, save it carefully. This is your permanent
FCC identifier. Send your name, test date, and new FRN
(09:15):
to ablel VC email VEC at a doblel dot org
and there we go. There's other vcs out there. Glarg
Alaska has a VC, WIYI has a VC. A DOUBLEL
is one of many VCS Volunteer Exam Coordinator group that
is out there. They do a fantastic job. And if
(09:38):
you go through another VC, that's totally fine as well.
Just go study and go get your hand radio license. So,
but twenty five hundred applications waiting, twenty five hundred in
forty three days. In the last forty three days the
government was shut down for forty three days. They reopened
the government about about a week ago at the time
(09:58):
of this recording, around November thirteen, okay, but prior to
that it was forty three day and apparently a week
ago they still can't get the website to work. So
I don't know, but yeah, twenty five hundred plus backlog
applications for amateur radio licensed guys. Amateur radio is not dying.
It's getting more popular, it's getting better, it's evolving, but
(10:19):
it is not dying. I'd like to know have you
experienced problems with the FCC website? Have you tried even GMRS?
Have you tried to get a GMRS license? Have you
tried to get an FRN. Have you tried to get
your HAM radio license upgrade? Or have you taken a
new exam and you're still waiting on your call sign.
You're still waiting on your upgrade because everything's been so
(10:40):
slow right now during this government shutdown. Put a comment
in the description below let me know what your specific
situation is. I would love to hear from you. Seventy three.
If you enjoy this video, check out these videos over
here because this is what YouTube thinks you want to
watch next. Seventy three
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