1.2 COLEM Testing, PPC, and Form 605

Who gives the test (and who does not)

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) does not administer commercial operator license examinations. To obtain a new Marine Radio Operator Permit (MP), you must pass Written Element 1 given by a Commercial Operator License Examination Manager (COLEM). The FCC COLEM page (updated 10 December 2025) lists managers authorized to administer examinations nationwide and, in some instances, at foreign sites. Contact the COLEM for current locations and schedules; the Commission does not publish a single national calendar.

A COLEM is not an amateur radio Volunteer Examiner Coordinator (VEC). Amateur Element 2/3/4 sittings do not produce an MP. A COLEM is not a U.S. Coast Guard Regional Exam Center; a captain's license sitting does not substitute for Element 1. A COLEM is not an FCC field-office walk-in desk for routine commercial elements, even though 47 CFR 13.209 still lets the FCC administer or re-administer an element in special cases.

47 CFR 13.213 is the COLEM qualification rule: the manager must have a written agreement with the FCC, register every eligible examinee without regard to race, sex, religion, national origin, or organization membership, make records available to the FCC, and not administer an examination to an employee, a relative, or a relative of an employee.

What a sitting looks like

47 CFR 13.211 says each session must be managed by a COLEM or the FCC, the COLEM determines how the exam is administered, the COLEM may limit the number of candidates, and the COLEM may prohibit items that could compromise integrity or distract examinees. Combine that with the examinations-page ban on books, papers, notes, and study guides: treat the room as closed-book.

Within 3 business days of completing the element, the COLEM must give you the results and must issue a Proof-of-Passing Certificate (PPC) if you score a passing grade (47 CFR 13.211(e)). If you do not pass, 47 CFR 13.209(e) requires the COLEM to inform you of the grade. 47 CFR 13.209(c) forbids re-administering the same question set to the same examinee, so a retake is a fresh draw.

The COLEM must accommodate an examinee whose physical disabilities require a special procedure (47 CFR 13.209(h)). The manager may ask for a physician's certification before choosing a procedure. Eligibility to attempt the exam is not denied solely for physical disability (13.209(f)–(g)). Separate from disability accommodation, 47 CFR 13.9 still makes a person ineligible for the license if that person cannot transmit and receive spoken English by telephone.

Fees: quote a range, not one invented price

The FCC does not set a single Element 1 fee. The COLEM page updated 10 December 2025 lists manager-set charges. For an MP-only sitting you should expect a figure somewhere in the published band from $25 (Sea School low end) to about $100 (US Captain's Training high end), not a number you invent.

Read the session-minimum column before you budget. Elkins lists $40 per element but a $80 session minimum, so a candidate who only needs Element 1 still pays the two-element floor at that manager. Mariners lists $85 per element with all exams online. US Captain's published band bundles course, exam, and filing. Always re-check the COLEM; the FCC page is a snapshot, not a locked tariff.

PPC: 365 days, then it is stale

47 CFR 13.211(f) is short and easy to miss: a PPC is valid for 365 days from the date it is issued. 47 CFR 13.9(c) requires a new-MP application to include an electronic copy of the official PPC showing that you passed the necessary element within the previous 365 days, unless a COLEM files the application on your behalf. If the COLEM files, an official copy of the PPC is not required with the FCC filing, but the COLEM must keep the PPC on file for 1 year and must forward the required data electronically.

If you wait 13 months after the sitting to file, the PPC is stale. Passing again is the remedy; there is no FCC grace period that stretches a PPC to match the lifetime MP.

FCC Form 605 and ULS

Each application for a new MP must be filed on FCC Form 605 in accordance with 47 CFR 1.913, through electronic filing in the Universal Licensing System (ULS) (47 CFR 13.9(b)). Many COLEMs file Form 605 for customers who test with them; ask before you leave the sitting. 47 CFR 13.10 requires applicants (except Restricted Radiotelephone Operator Permit applicants) to specify an email address where they can receive electronic correspondence. Returned undeliverable FCC mail can lead to suspension.

Per Public Notice DA 15-72, the FCC no longer mails license authorizations. If you put an email address on the application, a link to print the official copy is emailed when the application is granted. Licensees may also log into ULS to download official authorizations. File in ULS to replace a lost, stolen, or mutilated license. Name changes also go through Form 605: give both the former and the new legal names.

Ninety-day conditional operating authority

47 CFR 13.9(e) is the bridge between passing and the ULS grant. Provided your commercial radio operator license was not revoked or suspended and is not in an ongoing suspension proceeding, a person whose application has been received by the FCC but not yet acted on, and who holds a PPC showing the exam was passed within the previous 365 days, is authorized to exercise the rights and privileges of the operator license applied for. That authority is valid for 90 days from the date the application was received. The FCC may cancel it without a hearing.

The FCC commercial operator program page restates the same 90-day rule in plainer language. Two clocks are easy to swap:

You cannot stretch the 90-day authority until the PPC expires. If the grant has not issued by day 90, you do not keep operating on the pending application unless the FCC has actually granted the MP (or you have another valid authority such as an existing GROL).

Eligibility, English, and character bars

47 CFR 13.9(a)(1) makes a person legally eligible for employment in the United States eligible to apply. The FCC types-of-licenses page states the same employment test for an MP and adds that you must be able to receive and transmit spoken messages in English and pass the written examination. 47 CFR 13.201(a) repeats the English-ability requirement for any commercial radio operator license.

47 CFR 13.9(a)(4) makes a person ineligible when the person's commercial radio operator license is suspended, is the subject of an ongoing suspension proceeding, or when the person is afflicted with complete deafness, complete muteness, or complete inability for any other reason to transmit correctly and to receive correctly by telephone spoken messages in English. Fraud in obtaining a license is separately forbidden by 13.9(g).

Posting the document while you work

47 CFR 13.19(c) is the on-duty paper rule. When the operator is on duty and in charge of transmitting systems, or performing service, maintenance, or inspection functions, the license or permit document, or a photocopy, or a copy of the application and PPC(s) received by the FCC, must be posted or in the operator's personal possession, and available for inspection upon request by an FCC representative. The Element 1 pool tests a closely related idea in Key Topic 2; later chapters will return to it in operating context. For now, remember: original or photocopy, posted or on your person — not a texted photo that you cannot produce, and not a PPC left in a shore office after the 90-day window if you are claiming pending authority.

The commercial operator program page adds that if you are employed at a station where the operator license must be posted, you may post either your PPC or a signed copy of your renewal application instead of the license while a renewal application is being processed. Lifetime MPs granted after 25 March 2008 do not have a routine renewal cycle; posting still matters every watch.

Worked scenarios

Stale PPC. Jordan passes Element 1 on 1 February and files Form 605 on 20 December of the same year. The PPC is still inside 365 days, so the filing can use it. If Jordan waits until 15 February of the following year, the PPC is stale and Element 1 must be passed again.

Ninety days versus 365 days. After a 10 March sitting, Priya's COLEM files Form 605 on 12 March. From the date the FCC receives that application she may exercise MP privileges for 90 days while the grant is pending, provided she is not under a suspension bar. The PPC itself remains usable for a new or related filing until 365 days from issuance, but the operating bridge after this filing is 90 days, not a year.

Wrong counter. Sam tries to sit Element 1 with an amateur VEC team on a Saturday ham-exam session. That team cannot issue a commercial PPC. Sam must book a COLEM from the FCC list.

Official sources

• FCC COLEMs and fees — manager list and fees; page updated 10 December 2025
• FCC commercial operator program — 90-day pending authority; ULS replacement of lost licenses
• 47 CFR 13.9, 13.19, 13.211 — eligibility, posting, PPC life, and COLEM procedures