03-07-18 13:02 Daryl Stout wrote to ED VANCE about ARRL Requests Expanded HF   
   Howdy! Daryl,   
      
    DS> @MSGID: <5AA05D7C.1785.amtradio@capitolcityonline.net>   
    EV>Howdy! Daryl,   
      
    DS> Hi, Ed...   
      
    EV>I can't remember but back in 1959 when I took and passed the Technician   
    EV>Exam to keep my Call Sign active, I'm thinking I took a Morse Code Test   
    EV>before I took the written portion of the Exam.   
      
    DS>   Correct. When the FCC was administering the exams, you HAD to PASS   
    DS> the CW test FIRST -- or you were dismissed from the session, WITHOUT   
    DS> being allowed to do the written exam.   
      
   Hey!, Thanks!!!!, I like being correct once in a while, instead of being   
   corrected all the time.   
      
   Sorry about the Typo on Your Name in another Reply.   
   At least now You know I don't use a Script that makes the second line in   
   a Reply, only the first line is made by settings I have in MultiMail.   
      
    EV>I can't remember ever taking a test for a Amateur Radio Operators License   
    EV>without writing some code down first.   
      
    DS>   In the U.S. and its territories, the 13 and 20 wpm CW exams...plus   
    DS> the issuing of new Novice and Advanced Class licenses, were STOPPED on   
    DS> April 15, 2000. Holders of the Novice and Advanced Class licenses could   
    DS> renew them at the appropriate time. The 5 wpm CW exam (the last one),   
    DS> was eliminated on Feb. 23, 2007. Now, people are learning CW because   
    DS> they *WANT* to...and NOT because they *HAVE* to.   
      
   Last year I tried a Search on DuckDuckGo.com to learn about what You said   
   about Vibroplex getting lots of orders for Bugs, but couldn't find a link   
   to anything like that.   
      
   Would You have a URL about people recently learning CW because they *WANT*   
   to? ? ??? ??? ? ?   
        ^   
        |   
        --- in case You were wondering, I'm using Question Marks instead of   
   Periods and Dashes for the Morse Code symbol for a Question Mark.   
      
    EV>But I may be wrong, I have - many many many times B4 been wrong.   
    EV>And 60+/- years is a long period so I could be mistaken about the CW test.   
      
    DS>   Or like a T-shirt I saw once..."I may not always be right...but, I'm   
    DS> never wrong" (hi hi).   
      
   That saying doesn't apply to me.   
      
    EV>For someone with a Expired Amateur Extra ticket that Element 2 sounds   
    EV>STUPID (to Me).   
      
    DS>   Well, there was concern that with a lapsed license, having to get   
    DS> back on without taking a test, was "stupid". The FCC determined that   
    DS> passing the Technician exam was sufficient enough that they had the   
    DS> basic knowledge of items needed. They now require answering "the basic   
      
   My reason for thinking it was stupid is that the VEC Organization is asking   
   a Ham who's License expired to complete a exam for a Class of License LOWER   
   than the one the Ham had taken for the HIGHER Class License.   
      
    DS> character qualification question" on the NCVEC Form 605...answering Yes   
    DS> or No, on whether they have been convicted of a felony, in state or   
    DS> federal court. A YES answer is NOT an automatic disqualification...it   
    DS> depends on the circumstances. Yet, the examinee has to send to the FCC,   
    DS> all required documentation, etc. to the FCC within 14 days of the exam   
    DS> session, or the license grant is dismissed...as if they had never taken   
    DS> an exam.   
      
   I'm thinking on the FCC Form 610 I sent to them asking for the Novice Exam   
   papers back in the Summer of 1958 asked that question about being convicted   
   of a felony.   
      
   I went to the QTH of a General Class Ham I met in High School to take the   
   CW Test and passed it.   
   He wasn't old enough to witness my as I took the Written part so I asked   
   the Mother of another friend if She would sign on the 610 that She witnessed   
   me taking the Written Test.   
   She said O.K. and watched as I took the Novice Written Test.   
      
   Some weeks later I got a letter from the F.C.C. with the KN4ZIQ License in   
   it.   
      
    EV>I Passed the CW portion, Flunked the Written portion, walked out with a   
    EV>Temporary Advance Class License until the F.C.C. sent the License to me   
    EV>in the Mail.   
      
    DS>   When I first got my license in 1991, there was no FCC ULS. I took the   
    DS> test on Field Day Weekend, and it was the second week of August before   
    DS> my ticket and callsign arrived in the mail. Now, with the FCC ULS, you   
    DS> can get it in as little as 1 to 2 weeks...although I saw one fast   
    DS> turnaround...the ham passed Elements 2, 3, and 4 (Technician, General,   
    DS> and Amateur Extra) in one session. The exam session was on a   
    DS> Saturday...his callsign was in the database the following Wednesday!!   
      
   Computers do Paper Shuffeling faster that a Clerk can do it at the F.C.C.   
   Office, don't they? ? ??? ??? ? ?   
      
    EV>There were lots of things in the Amateur Extra exam I took that I had   
    EV>no idea about.   
      
    DS>   I learned how to tell where the voltage was leading or lagging the   
    DS> current, and that's all I remember.   
      
   That is one I didn't know, I would guess the Voltage Leads the Current,   
   otherwise the Current wouldn't have anything to cause it to flow.   
   DUH!!!!!!!!!!!   
      
    EV>I never took another Ham Exam.   
      
    DS>   Every year when I do my rent recertification, they ask me if I'm a   
    DS> student. I reply "the only exams I do now are giving ham radio license   
    DS> exams...and undergoing medical exams and procedures". Along that line,   
    DS> I'm getting a "two-fer"...an EGD (upper GI) and a colonoscopy (lower   
    DS> GI) on Friday the 13th of April. It'll be "lucky" for me, in that:   
      
    DS> 1) I'm long overdue for both -- it has been over 3 years.   
   -snip-   
   3 years is about the same time span as the Doctor that does mine has Me   
   come to see Him.   
      
      
   73 de Ed W9ODR .    .   
      
   ... "No word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause." -- Mark Twain   
   --- MultiMail/MS-DOS v0.49   
    * Origin: CCO BBS - capitolcityonline.net:26 (1:2320/105)