An ARRL VEC Volunteer Examiner (VE) team in Bankstown, New South Wales, Australia, conducted the first Technician test session under the new Element 2 Question Pool that went into effect on July 1. The newly revised pool, released in January 2018 (and subsequently updated and re-released in February) by the Question Pool Committee (QPC) of the National Conference of Volunteer Examiner Coordinators (NCVEC), which must now be in use. Three graphics are required for this pool, which includes 423 questions — down slightly from 426 in the previous pool.

In the Australian session, two candidates passed the Technician exam “comfortably” and then went on to pass the General class exam, Australian VE (OzVE) team spokesperson Brad Granger, VK2QQ/AK2QQ, said. They struck out on the Amateur Extra exam, however, although neither had really prepared for it, and both promised to come back and try again later in the year. “The OzVE team has been growing steadily since our first exam session held in 2016, with teams now active in Queensland (VK4), Victoria (VK3), and New South Wales (VK2),” Granger said.