BARC offers Volunteer Exam sessions four times a year. All are held at the Artisans Asylum, 96 Holton St., Allston. The time and date of the next exam session can be found on the Calendar page.
We administer tests for Technician, General, and Amateur Extra license classes.
Testing is by reservation only. You must reserve in advance by contacting he exam team at exams@barc.org. If you cannot make it for some reason, we ask that you contact us as soon as possible. We also ask that you be prompt, since we start the exam when everyone has arrived.
We use an online system called ExamTools to manage the test session. You will receive instructions on how to sign up and register when you make your reservation. Note that you must have an FCC Registration Number (FRN) before registering for a session, which you can get here.
If you can bring a laptop that will speed things up and help save a tree. Our testing system is officially supported on the current version of the Chrome web browser. Chrome or common derivatives will run on most modern desktop operating systems, including Windows, MacOS, and most mainstream Linux distributions. If you cannot bring a suitable laptop, please let us know and we will have paper exams available for you.
Please bring the following with you:
- Your current license, if you are upgrading.
- Any Certificates of Successful Completion of Exams (CSCEs) you are claiming.
- A valid photo ID, or two valid non-photo IDs.
- A pen and pencil.
- A calculator (if you need one). We will need to check to make sure any memories have been cleared and you cannot use a calculator app.
- A laptop, if you have a suitable one.
- $15, unless you paid in advance with PayPal. If you pass an exam, you may take subsequent tests without paying an additional fee. Repeating an exam requires the payment of an additional $15 fee.
Partial credit may be available for holders of expired licenses. If you held a General, Advanced, or Amateur Extra license in the past, or a Technician license issued before March 21, 1987. You can find more information here. If you intend to claim this credit, please let the exam team know in advance; this will help streamline the process at the test session.
After your exam
If you’ve taken the exam and passed, congratulations and welcome to Amateur Radio! We will submit your information to the FCC for processing, and they will send you a bill via email to pay the $35 license fee online. You must pay this bill within 10 days or your application will be dismissed. Official information can be found here.
If you answered “yes” to the basic qualification question on NCVEC Form 605, more information on how to proceed can be found here.
For status, you can go to the FCC Universal Licensing System page and click “Licenses” in the list of search options. Once your call sign has been issued, you are free to operate, within the restrictions of your new license class, of course.
If you upgraded an existing license, the white CSCE (Certificate of Successful Completion of Examination) form is evidence of your new license class. Until your new license is issued (appearing on the FCC website) you can operate with new privileges, but you need to add /AG (authorized General) or /AE (authorized Extra) to your call if you’re transmitting on a frequency your old license doesn’t allow you to use.
Most people look up other hams on qrz.com; you can look up your own current license information there as well. Once your call is issued, you may want to register with the site and add extra information to your callsign page.
You are welcome to come to any meeting of the Boston Amateur Radio Club or to reach out to an officer if you need help getting started. There is a weekly club net on Mondays at 9:00 p.m. on the 145.230 Boston repeater; see this page for details.