[AMRadio] License Classes, Dumbing Down, etc.

[Barrie Smith]

Well, I was first licensed in 1950, with the call WN7ALW.  I passed my 
general within a few months and was then W7ALW.

I was very active for about 12 years, but then other interests (sports car 
racing, especially) took over.

I became active again in the late 1980s.  I'd never bothered to apply for 
the Extra class license, but got talked into it a few years ago by a local 
ham.

I decided to start studying for the test, which was about a month away, two 
weeks ahead of the test.

Well, my mother passed away two weeks before the test.  With all that 
happens during such an event, I never had a chance to study at all.

I'd made an appointment to take the test, so I did.  I didn't do well, but I 
did get a score of 85%, which was well over the passing mark.

I don't believe the test was as comprehensive, or as difficult, as the 
general I took in the early 1950s.  There were no multiple-choice questions 
then, it was all essay and drawing schematics.

Anyway, Phil, and others, I was probably 68 years old when I took that Extra 
test.

73, Barrie, W7ALW