In order to use ExamTools as a VE, you need to sign up and provide an official copy of your license. There are actually two separate websites, one used for production and a development sandbox for practice and testing. You can find a complete list of websites used in the system at https://docs.exam.tools/docs/general/websitedecoder/.
Officially, the documentation says to sign up at https://hamstudy.org/ for production and https://hamstudy.dev/ for the development sandbox. There’s a “Register” link at the upper right corner of the page. If you have already signed up (for example, to take practice exams) you should have an account.
In addition, the two main websites also offer you the chance to register. The production system is at https://examtools.org/ and the development sandbox is at https://examtools.dev/.
Most of the registration form should be self-explanatory. Be aware, if you usually use long and complicated passwords, that you may have to type these in by hand during an exam session, though we should be able to avoid doing this as we all get used to the system.
The license confirmation system requires an Official Copy of your license; the reference copy that you can print out easily from the FCC ULS website will not work.
To get this, you must first have an account on the FCC CORES website. Go to https://apps.fcc.gov/cores/userLogin.do. If you had an account prior to July 15, 2022, you need to create a new account. Your new username is your email address, and a quick way to figure out if you’re already in the system is to click on “Check Username Availability”. If your email address is available, you haven’t registered.
Fill out the form to register. They will send you an email link to confirm.
Once you have the new account, you need to associate it with your FRN following the procedure here: https://fccprod.servicenowservices.com/wireless?id=kb_article_view_public&sysparm_article=KB0017029. Then follow this procedure to download the Official Copy of your license: https://fccprod.servicenowservices.com/wireless?id=kb_article_view_public&sysparm_article=KB0017039.
The Official Copy is a PDF file, probably named with a long string of numbers. Check that it’s your license, and that “Official Copy” appears in a diagonal in gray letters across the license.
Upload this file to ExamTools. (If you exited the system at some point, log in again and go to Profile in the menu on the left.) In the rest of the Verify Callsign form, be sure to give your full legal name (like “Vladimir V. Putin”) since that will be what ends up getting printed on the various forms. Sign where it says “Sign here”, and if you designate that as your saved signature it will save time on exam night.
It will take some time, maybe a day or two, for someone to approve everything. It should look up your VE credentials automatically; for the BARC team, be sure that you have ARRL VEC credentials assigned to you.
With that, you should be all set.
Other handy information:
- Our team’s identifier is W1BOS.
- Our team is the Boston ARC Exam Team.
- We are affiliated with the ARRL VEC.
- Team Lead is NV1W.
- ExamTools documentation can be found by clicking the box on the main page of the website.