Volunteer examiner requirements: who can give a ham radio exam?

The team and the session

Section 97.509(a) says each examination for an amateur operator license must be administered by a team of at least 3 VEs at an examination session coordinated by a VEC. The number of examinees at a session may be limited. The rule text does not name any VEC, so see the FCC for the list of coordinators.

Who qualifies as an administering VE

Paragraph (b) lists four conditions that each administering VE must meet. The VE must (1) be accredited by the coordinating VEC; (2) be at least 18 years of age; (3) hold an amateur operator license of the class specified for the exam being given; and (4) not be a person whose grant of an amateur station license or operator license has ever been revoked or suspended. The word "ever" matters: the bar is not limited to a recent suspension.

License class needed per exam

• Technician Class exam: Amateur Extra, Advanced or General Class VE.
• General Class exam: Amateur Extra or Advanced Class VE.
• Amateur Extra Class exam: Amateur Extra Class VE only.

In other words, a VE must hold a license above the class being tested, except that the Extra exam needs an Extra. A Technician cannot be a VE for any exam, under the classes listed in this rule. The widget above applies these three lines to all twelve combinations of VE class and exam.

Conduct of the exam

Each administering VE must observe the examinee throughout the entire examination, and the VEs are responsible for proper conduct and supervision; they must immediately terminate the exam if the examinee fails to follow instructions. No VE may administer an exam to a spouse, child, grandchild, stepchild, parent, grandparent, stepparent, sibling, stepsibling, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew or in-law. No VE may administer or certify any exam by fraudulent means or for money or other consideration, including reimbursement in excess of what is permitted; violating that may lead to revocation of the VE's station license and suspension of the operator license. A compromised exam must not be given, and the same question set may not be re-administered to the same examinee.

Grading, certification and paperwork

The VEs must grade each element immediately after completion (for remotely administered exams, at the earliest practical opportunity) and are responsible for judging the correctness of the answers. When the examinee has credit for every element needed for the license sought, 3 VEs must certify that the examinee is qualified and that the VEs complied with the administering requirements. The certifying VEs are jointly and individually accountable for each element reported, and may delegate to other qualified VEs their authority, but not their accountability, to administer individual elements. If the examinee fails an element, the VEs must return the application document and tell the examinee the grade. They must issue a CSCE for each element passed. After a successful exam, the VEs submit the application document to the coordinating VEC according to its instructions.

Accommodations

The VEs must accommodate an examinee whose physical disabilities require a special examination procedure. They may ask for a physician's certification of the nature of the disability before deciding which procedures, if any, to use.

A worked example

Three people want to give a General Class exam at a club session coordinated by a VEC. One is an Amateur Extra, one an Advanced Class, and one a General Class licensee. The General holds a license class that is below the exam being given, so that person may not be one of the administering VEs for the General exam, though the same person could sit on a team for a Technician exam. The team needs a third qualified VE. And if one of the three is the parent of an examinee, that VE may not administer that person's exam. For what happens after a pass, see the renewal page and the station license page; for choosing a call sign, the vanity call sign page.

Sources

• 47 CFR 97.509, Administering VE requirements (eCFR). Read November 2, 2026.
• 47 CFR 97.21, Application for a modified or renewed license grant (eCFR), for the upgrade cross-reference. Read November 2, 2026.

Text read: the eCFR (Electronic Code of Federal Regulations) text of Title 47 as it stood on October 29, 2026, retrieved through the eCFR versioner API on November 2, 2026. The eCFR is an editorial compilation and is not the official legal edition; the Federal Register and the annual CFR are. Rules change, so confirm the current wording on the eCFR before relying on it. This page paraphrases the rule and does not replace it.