In-Person VE testing is effectively shut down. Remote VE testing is available from Anchorage VEC but delays of up to 60 days may be encountered by applicants.
With COVID-19, nearly every VEC is or is about to be shut down. Then we have the Anchorage ARC VEC. They are the only VEC that actively performs remote testing and thereby are the ONLY VEC still offering exams at least through May 1, assuming all other VECs cancel their regularly scheduled in-person VE sessions due to social distancing guidelines.
Anchorage ARC VEC is taking on more remote test sessions to help during the pandemic, but despite their best efforts, and due to unprecedented circumstances, they’re not able to effectively manage testing for basically the entire country (which is usually distributed between 14 other VECs), remotely, at high levels.
While they are accepting applications for remote testing, Anchorage ARC VEC Chairman Brandin Hess, AL6I warns applicants that delays of up to 60 days may be encountered. Please visit https://kl7aa.org/vec/remote-testing/ for more information.
I’m currently trying to look for ways help expand their testing and promote remote testing to other VECs, but what’s normally not a significant burden has turned into a full time volunteer job for those guys overnight.
You might think their operation is scalable by adding more VEs, but that is not the case. Anchorage VEC is not processing applications for new remote testing VEs at this time. Chairman Hess indicates that the Anchorage ARC VEC will re-evaluate the situation on or around May 1st and a decision to resume in-person testing sessions will be made at that time, via blog post on the Anchorage Amateur Radio Club web site.
All of this is subject to change as the situation materializes.
The year is 2020. Just about
everybody owns a computer, a smartphone, and a broadband internet connection. A
massive pandemic has shut down all social gatherings for the foreseeable
future. All concerts, church congregations, marathons, festivals, St. Patricks
Day, and ham radio conventions, shuttered.
What are we hams going to do?!
Hamvention
Online
As much as I really do believe
COVID-19 has presented radio amateurs with a glowing opportunity to do more
stuff with ham radio (like learn CW, build some antennas, make more QSOs,
monitor 146.52, etc), I do not think we have to suffer in total convention
isolation now that most people have the ability to participate in an online
symposium.
I ask the organizers of Hamvention,
vendors, forum speakers, and all of it’s prospective attendees to work together
to bring Hamvention online.
I know this idea won’t bring back
the flea market, camaraderie, or the cheesecake on a stick, but I do think this
is the best opportunity to bring the ham radio convention to the world wide
web.
How
to Run Hamvention Online
Hamvention
Organizers
Set up a new website to capture visitors and relay them to their desired destinations.
Propose to forum hosts to bring their talk online via YouTube or Twitch. I suggest these two in lieu of Skype, WebEx, or Zoom because they’re free, and can support many tens of thousands of concurrent viewers, and can be interacted in real-time using chat.
Certain forums, primarily Q&A forums, might want to use Zoom over YT or Twitch, but this will require Hamvention to have a paid Business-level Zoom account so many hundreds of people are able to attend.
Brainstorm a method to attract interest and Q&A from hams who don’t/can’t/refuse to use YouTube/Twitch/etc.
Create and publish a schedule for presenter streams and premieres to go live.
Create a swap meet webpage to capture prospective flea-marketers
Communication and coordination with presenters and vendors
Forum
Presenters
Purchase a decent webcam and microphone if you don’t already have one, or pre-record your talk on YouTube and use it’s “Premiere” feature to post it live at your scheduled time.
Have a volunteer monitor the chat to collect questions so the presenter doesn’t have to field them at the same time as his or her presentation.
Vendors
Create coupon codes and discounts for virtual attendees
Schedule gear announcements and coordinate with organizers
Create an all-day drop-in skype/zoom, or other chat system for attendees to come in to ask questions.
Convention
Attendees
Get accounts on Youtube, Twitch, and/or Zoom, or whatever other medium being used by the online convention.
Submit questions prior and during the premier or stream of the presenter.
Create a schedule of presentations of which you want to view and interact live.
Just because we’re need to distance ourselves to flatten the load curve to our healthcare system doesn’t mean we can’t get our fix of listening and interacting with the movers and shakers in ham radio, which is one of Hamvention’s greatest contributions to the radio service. I think we can make it happen in just two months.
We can also bring this to the amateur radio airwaves. Those who cannot/will not attend a stream on the internet might be able to tune in to their local repeater for a simulcast of the stream, hosted by, say, the local radio club. Or perhaps tune into it via HF, hosted by any number of MASSIVE contest-grade stations that exist across the world. There’s a great opportunity here to make the best of a bad situation.
I was planning on writing a bit more of a proposal but since the news dropped sooner than I expected, I thought I ought to finish this sooner to ride the wave.
My next proposal – Online VE Testing
– is coming soon.
Coronavirus (COVID-19) is a big deal. Even if you think, “oh, the flu is worse,” or, “oh, it’s not in my backyard,” it’s still a massive global health emergency. It’s killed over 4,000 and infected over 100,000 worldwide as of 11 March 2020.
Coronavirus is not your regular run-of-the-mill flu. It disproportionately affects those who are older and have pre-existing immune system deficiencies. According to WorldOMeters (which provides up-to-date statistical tallies based on Chinese records), the following is a chart of current mortality by age:
AGE
DEATH RATE*
80+ years old
14.8%
70-79 years old
8.0%
60-69 years old
3.6%
50-59 years old
1.3%
40-49 years old
0.4%
30-39 years old
0.2%
20-29 years old
0.2%
10-19 years old
0.2%
0-9 years old
no fatalities
*Death Rate = (number of deaths / number of cases) = probability of dying if infected by the virus (%). The percentages do not have to add up to 100%, as they do NOT represent share of deaths by age group.
And here’s data from N8RMA’s State of the Hobby Survey, showing the makeup of age among amateur radio licensees (given it’s inherent biases, it’s the best data we hams have publicly that I am aware of):
Age
Percentage of Hams (2019)
65 and older
35.18%
55-64 years old
30.45%
45-54 years old
16.19%
35-44 years old
10.33%
25-34 years old
4.78%
15-24 years old
2.75%
Under 15
0.32%
I see an issue here. About 70% of (surveyed) hams are over age 50, and the death rate probability for people over 50 infected with Coronavirus averages to be 7.9%, and that’s just considering age. Risks are also high for males, people with cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, diabeties, and cancer. That means if COVID-19 were to infect everyone, ham radio might – quite literally – face an existential crisis. So we’ve got to keep the spread to a minimum.
Cancellations
As such, some amateur radio meetings have been canceled. As of posting (11 March), the HamSCI Workshop and the Visalia DX conference has been canceled. Numerous smaller local and regional hamfests have also been canceled for the months of March and April.
Hamvention has not yet canceled. Being later in May, it’s still too early to tell if COVID-19 will have an impact vs. other events like NAB, SXSW, Cochella, among other large events that have also been canceled but are in April.
I still plan to attend but seeing that the WHO has classified COVID-19 as a pandemic, and Ohio has a few cases, I wholly suspect we’ll hear something from Hamvention organizers very soon.
All of Asia took a massive hit, and so for the coming months one can imagine that it will take it’s toll on the global electronics supply chain. I haven’t heard of any big ham radio gear rumors, but surely this will squash any if there were for at least the next few months.
Things you can do to avoid Coronavirus (and getting sick in general):
Wash your hands, like this, and DO NOT skimp out on soap or wash for less than 20 seconds.
Don’t touch your face or frequently touched surfaces unnecessarily.
Use hand sanitizer (>60% Alcohol) when soap and water is not available.
Cough and sneeze into your arm in a downward facing direction away from people or common areas/surfaces.
Avoid air travel and public transit.
Avoid large gatherings of people.
If you do have to go out around many people, wear a mask in public. Contrary to CDC guidance, masks prevent respiratory infection. If you do happen to have an N95 mask lying around in your wood shop, it might help block aerosolized spit particles from entering your lungs directly, which is how a majority of infectious respiratory disease is transmitted.
Have at least 2 months of water and non-perishable food stored in a safe place at home.
Consider postponing your big Disney vacation or cruise in the next few months.
If you’re older, consider self-quarantine, like telling your kids and grandkids to not visit for a while and avoid stores and other establishments during peak-hours.
Share this information with friends.
Finally, if you’re sick, for goodness sake, stay home. People not staying home when they have flu-like symptoms is the reason why this disease is spreading so easily. Call your local health department for guidance and testing if needed.
Things you should not do:
Use essential oils, colloidal silver, or anything marketed as a “cure” without any scientific basis as a means of preventing disease.
Hoard masks, GermX, toilet paper, and disinfectant wipes (or sell them at ungodly prices)
