As of the close of business on Monday, July 15, applications for the new Volunteer Monitor Program no longer will be accepted. Some 250 applications have been submitted to fill approximately 150 Volunteer Monitor (VM) positions in the program, which is succeeding the Official Observer (OO) program. Retired FCC special counsel and former Atlantic Division Vice Director Riley Hollingsworth, K4ZDH, is overseeing ARRL’s role in the development and implementation of the program, and he has been interviewing every applicant. Those not selected as VMs will be placed in a reserve pool. Current OOs were invited to apply for appointments.

Approved by the ARRL Board of Directors at its July 2018 meeting, the new Volunteer Monitor Program represents a formal agreement between the FCC and ARRL in which volunteers trained and vetted by ARRL will monitor the airwaves and collect evidence that can be used to correct misconduct as well as to recognize exemplary on-air operation. ARRL will refer incidents of flagrant violations to the FCC for action, in accordance with FCC guidelines, and the FCC will give priority to enforcement cases developed by the Volunteer Monitor Program. The FCC proposed the program following the closures of several FCC regional office and a reduction in field staff.

ARRL and the FCC have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that establishes the Volunteer Monitor Program as a replacement for the Official Observers.

The first Volunteer Monitors could be in place and ready to begin their duties by this fall.