I just saw a job opening in my area that lists a requirement of FCC General Radiotelephone Operator’s License or industry accepted equivalent.  Aside from the license requirement I have the skills for the job.

Anybody familiar with this license?  Got any tips on study material?  Is it crazy to think I could study hard and pass this exam in just a few weeks?  I just passed the technician exam back in November but you know how easy to study that is.

THANKS!

I got mine in 1976 so it was a while ago, but i think it is just an application, not even a test

Yeah it's a 2 part exam now.  I just realized there are study apps in both the Apple and Android app store!  NICE!

I passed elements 1 & 3 a couple of months ago for similar reasons.
I used GROLprep to study and tested online with INARTE.org.
I figure it was about as challenging as the extra exam but my old brain just doesn't memorize as well anymore.

Good luck !

How did the online testing go? I've been thinking of doing the same thing. I have a test pool app on my phone, and go through it from time to time. I have other priorities, but GROL is on my list for the next few years, time permitting.

I plan to get mine in the next few years, if for no other reason than I want it.

I've heard that the GROL material overlaps with the Extra exam in terms of RF theory and whatnot, so maybe study to knock both of them out at once?  Gordon West sells a GROL prep book with an available audio CD.

I had to get mine to graduate from electronics school. It was back in the mid 90's and it was a two part test. There were computer based study tests identical to HAM study guides you can find online. I don't remember it being that difficult.

The online testing was great; super convenient and hassle free. After you pay ($90 for the 2 elements) you install a Chrome plug-in and go to a link that checks your systems  connectivity speed, webcam, mike... they send you a second link that you use when you are ready to test.

When I was ready to test (maybe 5 days later) I opened that link at my kitchen table and was into the test in a couple of minutes - no appointment window or waiting - i guess they have proctors ready ? The test is similar to an online practice exam and you can mark questions skipped, the program wont close with unanswered questions. I had no real interaction with the proctor and the whole thing took like a half hour.

They didn't give me my results immediately, but in an email about 45 minutes later.  I think that's because I passed, if you fail they give you an opportunity to retest (at an additional fee).  They handled all of the FCC paperwork.

I'm thinking about getting my RADAR Endorsement, I don't need it but it would be cool, and I'd use them again in a second.

I have the GROL. But I ended up having to take the "equivalent" test a few years later. It was more up to date and seemed easier. When I took it there were still questions about tubes. Might check with the potential employer and see who they suggest and recognize for the "equivalent". I'd hate to take the GROL now.

I think Piccolo has this license.  Maybe he'll chime in.

Nope.

Not required anymore.

I went through this early last year after changing positions at work.  I studied on https://www.fcctestonline.com/index.html and took the 2 elements at the local university testing center.  I'd say it was about as difficult as the Amateur Extra exam, only with more questions.  Totally doable in a couple of months if you dedicate yourself to daily study.

Is the license renewable like amateur without fees or retests?

Shasta-Doug - lifetime license

I have my GROL/Radar and GMDSS op's license.

I tested in person a few years ago at the Severna Park, MD NMEA center, just north of Annapolis. Had to make an appointment and I literally took the test in a closet BC they didn't have a dedicated space for exams. The test administrators (two female clerks/secretaries) acted like it was the first time they ever did anything like that and screwed up my licensing paperwork so badly, I eventually had the FCC step in and walk them through it. They mixed up....no...they interchangeably used...my FRN, SSN and DOB on the forms and it was a disaster. No sooner got the first test series docs cleared up when they screwed up my second session... The FCC was great through the whole thing and made them correct and re-submit everything at least twice, LOL. I still have our comedic three-way emails someplace - too good to delete.

I used the FCCTestOnline site linked above and it helped tremendously. I studied the materials and practice tested at every opportunity and after a few weeks of that, I did well on the tests. I was a radar repairman in the 70s, so I had a head-start on the Radar endorsement.

I took the MROP (Part 1 of the GROL) and the GROL itself (Exam 2) at the same session. Went back and did the Radar endorsement and GMDSS at the second session.

The hardest part was remembering the various frequencies needed for the GMDSS, and I thought the GROL was only slightly more difficult than AE.

Back in the 60's I had my 3rd class phone license. You had to have at least a 3rd class to be a disk jockey if it required you to take meter readings off the transmitter gear at the radio station. The test was easy, but you had to go to the district FCC office to take it. I had to go from Evansville, IN up to Chicago to take the test. I do remember the office was on Wacker Drive...which I always thought was funny.

The station engineers all had first class phone licenses and it was a pretty tough test from what everybody said. Don't remember much about what the 2nd class phone was good for.

I'm not sure when they did away with 'on-air personalities' needing a 3rd class license (unless a first class was on site for your time on the air), but they did.

I'm sure my 3rd class phone license expired about 40-ish years ago.

I'd see what the equivalents are. Case in point, I have a CET (Certificed Electronics Technician) equivalency through the General Communications Tech level 1 & 2. This was a Motorola used to require CET's for any of their Astro 25 certified technicians. After it became apparent that 70% of the CET course material was not longer relevant due to changes in how two-way radio infrastructure was being manufactured, Motorola approved an alternative that became GCT 1 & GCT 2.

It should also be noted, any ETA International Certificate Administrator can administer the GROL exams (actually, per the FCC they can administer any FCC exam).

I got mine in 1972. It's no longer listed on the FCC license search https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/searchLicense.jsp, but someone told me there is a way to find it.

Vaguely remember this ..either as a college radio jock or working at the local NBC affiliate 30 years ago

I'll chime in..

I have a GROL w/ RADAR endorsement. It wasn't needed for a job and I finished it before going to electronics school.

I studied with a book that came with a CD to do practice tests.

I had to get mine for BDA code compliance and the manufacturer set up a class where we could take the test. I have study materials available, but also did online study and pre tests at uscaptainstraining.com. $75 and you can take all the studying you want and practice tests.
I knew virtually nothing about radio beforehand and I’m starting to learn.  GROL is a lifetime license now so it’s one and done.

I have the GROL, but no radar endorsement. Took it using hamexam.com software. Great for aviation guys
and the software is scale-able and does amateur exams as well.

Went to school in 1981 for 423x0, but it's no longer a valid afsc. However, it's a year of college, so completing the
exam for me made the credit certificate valid. I actually went to college before I had my HS Diploma. Had to take the
GED in 1982, and got my diploma while I was also doing the CDCs. In 2002, I went to ashworth college for a bit
for their criminal justice and security management programs, but I didn't stick it out due to a job change that made it
impossible for me to study like I had been doing.

They told me that my DANTES records were never forwarded to the state, so I had to contact the Air Force and get them
to send the state my test records. I finally became a real high school grad in 2002, but my diploma is dated 1982.

Pretty sure I maxed out all sections of the test. I ended up leaving home shortly after my 17th birthday, so I was not
able to complete high school alongside of a full time job and 65 hours a week. Went from being an honor student to a
high school dropout. There went my shot at med school, huh? Seven different high schools, 6 in my sophomore year, then
out the door. Times were hard.

Anyway, the GROL is not nearly as in demand as it used to be. Most people are covered by A&P tickets, and there may be one
guy at an in shop facility that has one. I've never used mine professionally, but it looks good on the resume. I would like to
get the radar endorsement, because, as a former HOA officer, it's nice to get for operating the radar gun. I haven't touched an aircraft
since 1986, the last being a KC-135 that was down for a c check. I was offered 121 school by an airline I worked for in 1985, but
hard pass on that. Civilian aviation is cringy compared to military.

I hear Florida is going to that model. Texas hasn't gone there yet but "Public Safety BDAs" are big money currently.

Yep FL law says all buildings have to be surveyed by such and such date. GA municipalities are pushing surveys of all new construction. FD’s want their radios working.

New construction is one thing and while I and a few others have been making a living off of BDAs, I've not agreed with the forcing of what we will call "legacy" buildings have to upgrade infrastructure to BDA systems at the owner's expense. My honest opinion that should be on the city for either not ensuring the system worked correctly in those buildings to begin with or upgrading systems that have different performance characteristics.

City of Austin and a few others in Texas have turned saying legacy buildings must meet current NFPA requirements (it's understandable to force the upgrade if rennovation/remodeling work is done as well but in this case it is not so). Don't need a GROL though...

Wow, all municipalities require a GROL to accept systems for review here no way around it. I haven’t seen the exact code requirement for one, but it’s been said the FCC required it for public domain working on the systems. I have it regardless.
I agree with you on the cost shift though, if their radios don’t work it’s not the business’ fault. Most trucks have a repeater on them anyway to back haul radio traffic and the FF local radio connects to that, not all the way back to the tower. Due to terrain atmospherics etc in my estimation almost everywhere needs a damn BDA anyway and the cost isn’t worth the squeeze really.

I have the GROL, and the CET, and the APCO Radio Technician credentials.

If you don't know radios, and you are not good at memorizing a medium sized test bank, you will probably not do well. It is not equivalent to the amateur no code tech.

My concern would be, do you understand the material? If you pencilwhip the test, and get a job, would you actually know what you needed to do? If you crash an AM radio station, that's money. If you dick up a public safety radio system, you might hurt people.

For reference, the GROL is the highest commercial license the FCC awards. It used to be necessary to run a television or broadcast radio transmitter, and either it or the NABER or SBE certs were necessary to get into land mobile radio work. It was the First Class Radiotelephone Operator license, and then it got watered down and shoehorned into a smaller 'thing'. Even now, it is a hard test. (It's not hard if you just memorize the answers, but if you can sit down and explain what the question is asking, it requires some actual knowledge.)

Now, people just pull those names out of a hat when writing the criteria for a job title without really understanding what they are asking for. My state still lists NABER as an equivalent for their radio tech jobs, and that organization went out in the 90's. The GROL still has some prestige.

The only real places that need a GROL are for maritime and aviation, but I am seeing more ads for BDA installers that specify it.

Without hijacking the thread, you understand that a maritime RADAR endorsement does not allow you to operate a RADAR-based speed measurement device? Outside of legitimate law enforcement agencies, and the carve out for sports, you need a Part 90 itinerant license, which is about $300.

They must have passed a test similar to the ham test to qualify for the job.

Went to school for Avionics, needed it to graduate back in 1992.  Life time license, exam consisted of rules and regs and electronics theory.

Also was certified on the whole Bendix King line up back then.  Ended up never touching an airplane.

Now CT scanners is  another story.

It depends on the band. I haven't had anything to do with it in years, but some bands, (K I think ) allow places like HOA to use radar and not require a license for it. Other bands are covered by the LEO communications licensing. I do know that in order to calibrate the unit, normally a GROL is required.

Decatur electronics would disagree. If you can find the carveout for hoa's I'd be interested in seeing it. There are only 3 bands that I know about, k, x, and ka.

Sports RADAR are sometimes covered under a blanket license, but that's the only exception I am aware of. Maybe Doppler velocimetry for industrial sensors...