FCC Denies Petition to Require Exam Questions in Languages Other than English

NEWINGTON, CT, Feb 23, 2007 -- The FCC has turned down a petition seeking a rule requiring question pools be prepared for each examination element in languages other than English. Filing on behalf of the Puerto Rico Amateur Radio League (PRARL), Victor Madera, KP4PQ, sought the change to §97.523 of the rules last year. Madera is the PRARL's secretary and ARRL Puerto Rico Section Manager. The organization cited a need to administer consistent ham radio license exams in Spanish. In a letter today, the FCC suggested that the PRARL would be better off to approach the National Conference of Volunteer Examiner Coordinators (NCVEC) Question Pool Committee (QPC) about establishing language criteria.

"The Commission's rules do not specify any particular language(s) in which Amateur Radio service written examinations must be administered," wrote Scot Stone, deputy chief of the FCC Wireless Telecommunications Bureau's Mobility Division. "Consequently, no rule change is required for the NCVEC QPC to maintain Spanish-language question pools." Stone said that because Volunteer Examiner Coordinators (VECs) cooperate in maintaining standard question pools, the NCVEC QPC might be the more appropriate forum for the PRARL's request.

Stone noted that §97.523 in part requires that VECs "must cooperate in maintaining one question pool for each written examination element" and that each question pool be made publicly available prior to its use in making a question set. "Thus, the written examination questions are drawn from a uniform national database of multiple-choice questions and answers" that the NCVEC approves, he said.

The PRARL has developed Spanish-language versions of the question pools and has offered to provide them to the QPC at no expense in order to standardize Spanish-language Amateur Radio examinations. It also publishes Amateur Radio study materials in Spanish. The organization told the FCC that because there's no uniform Spanish-language version of the Amateur Radio exam question pools, Volunteer Examiners (VEs) prepare Spanish-language Amateur Radio license examination questions at random.

"You are concerned that this method of preparing examination questions may result in Spanish-language examinations being prepared without following a standard pattern," Stone said, "thereby resulting in Spanish-speaking examinees not being treated equally to English-speaking examinees."

The FCC suggested that PRARL's concern regarding disparate treatment of Spanish speakers appeared to be based on speculation. "The petition presents no evidence of an existing problem meriting a rule change," Stone concluded.

Previous: Amateur Radio Enters a New Era

Next: Which Speed for Winlink 2000 Packet? A Cautionary Tale