Brer Ed Vance wrote to Brer Roy Witt about Re: Resurrected:   
      
    RW>> My 2nd Elmer was a friend of a friend, who gave me the   
    RW>> incentive to take the test for a Novice ticket, c1970 - WN6ABE   
    RW>> was a one year license with no renewal available, per FCC rules   
    RW>> at the time.   
      
    EV> Brer Roy,   
      
    EV> My Novice License had the same One Year rule.   
      
   Did you upgrade before the one year expiration or did you skip the upgrade   
   and wait intil later to do that.   
      
    EV> In the late 1950's the FCC was going to come and give a exam session   
    EV> in my locality (KY) a few weeks after the Dayton HamVention was held.   
      
    EV> I took the Technician Test at Dayton to preserve my Call Sign, since   
    EV> my code speed was around 10 WPM then, but I wasn't sure about passing   
    EV> the Written Exam part but I was hopeing I'd pass it.   
      
    EV> Then I took the Test for the General License when the FCC came to KY.   
    EV> I passed the 13 WPM Code Test and wasn't real sure about how I did   
    EV> with the Written part.   
      
    EV> I did this because the Rules said it was OK to take a Exam for a   
    EV> higher class license even though I had recently taken a Exam for a   
    EV> lower class license.   
    EV> There was a "waiting period" for taking the Same Test again, but not   
    EV> for a Higher License Test.   
      
    EV> Some weeks later a letter from the FCC arrived, with a WINDOW on it.   
      
    EV> I've learned from taking the General test before that Failure Notices   
    EV> come in a plain envelope that my Address was PRINTED ON instead of   
    EV> the Address (on the New License) being seen through a Cellophane   
    EV> WINDOW.   
      
    EV> In the letter was a Technician License.   
    EV> I was depressed a bit but at least I had preserved my Call Sign for   
    EV> IIRC 5 Years, and that license was renewable.  WHEW!!!!!!!!!!   
      
    EV> A few more weeks passed and I was sitting in my front yard on a   
    EV> Lawn Chair under a tree and the Mail Man called to me and said   
    EV> that I had a letter from the FCC.   
      
    EV> I asked him if it had a WINDOW, and he said YES.   
      
    EV> When I got the letter in my hand I was trembling as I was opening it.   
      
    EV> Inside the envelope along with the General License was a note from   
    EV> the FCC that said that their records show I was issued another   
    EV> License and that I HAD to return that License to them by Mail before   
    EV> the General Class ticket was valid.   
      
    EV> 20 Minutes later I had the Technician ticket in an stamped envelope   
    EV> and walked down the street to drop it in the mailbox on the corner.   
      
    EV> The next thing I did was call several of my Ham Radio Buddies on the   
    EV> telephone and tell them the Big LID was now a GENERAL!.   
      
   Congratulations!   
      
   An aside to your story, while I and a close friend were sitting in the   
   FCC's exam room at their offices in San Diego c1978, we were taking the   
   General code exam. The code test included a 10 question test that asked   
   about the content of the code that we had copied. One question stands out   
   in my mind as 'the question that broke the camel's back'... The question   
   was; how many watts did the sender say he was using?   
      
   I had writen down "1 watts" in my copy and had answered the question   
   accordingly. My buddy, looking at my work sheet commented under his   
   breath; I don't believe that is right, and he wrote down 10 watts. I   
   whispered back that I hadn't copied two numbers before the plural word,   
   watts.   
      
   You could only miss 3 questions on that exam and I passed the exam on that   
   question with a 70% right score, while he had to make an appointment to   
   take the test again 30 days later.   
      
   Another friend, sitting across the room from us failed that test (his 5th   
   try) and hadn't gotten past Technician before I moved to Texas in 2004.   
   When the code test was no longer required, I see that he has made it to   
   Extra Class. I have no idea why, as he kept his old WB6xxx call sign and   
   can't communicate in CW...   
      
      
            R\%/itt - K5RXT   
      
   "It is the fault of our science that it wants to explain all, and   
    if it explain not, then it says there is nothing to explain."   
        Bram Stoker (1847-1912)   
      
    Thus, we have "Climate Change Science" - which isn't capable of   
    explaining anything.   
      
      
   --- GoldED+/W32 1.1.5-31012   
   --- D'Bridge 3.98   
    * Origin: South-Texas Area Hub - Gulf Coast Backbone (1:387/22)