[ARC5] US Morse Exam History...Commercial versus mateur (OT)

Fri Dec 21 18:08:46 EST 2012

While in HS I got into traffic handling and high speed CW and by the time I 
joined the Navy I had the ARRL 35WPM  certificate and could handle 40 most 
of the time. Upon going aboard ship after 8 months of ET school I naturally 
had to spend a lot of time in Radio Central and after the RMC found out I 
was CW proficient he let me sit in on a couple of plain text traffic nets to 
stay proficient. Returning from leave I had my Vibroplex Presentation (16th 
birthday present) with me and the Chief checked me out on that and let me 
sit the high speed nets. Next were the crypto nets which were the code 
groups and it took me a little while, a week or so, to maintain 100%  copy. 
At sea there was little to do besides PM's and the occassional simple repair 
so my ET2 boss and the EMO authorized me to become an "official" backup 
RM...in writing. The RM's said I had a distinctive banana boat swing that 
was very easy to copy and I was asked to send occassional over the air CW 
practice on one of the assigned fleet frequencies.

Before all that they taught me to type the Navy way, instead of the way a HS 
girl friend taught me.  I cant use their description here (-:

I still have that Vibroplex and would be embarassed to get on the air with 
it after decades of electronic keyers but still can handle 30-35 wpm at age 
72.

Carl
KM1H

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Morrow" <kk5f at earthlink.net>
To: <arc5 at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Friday, December 21, 2012 4:17 PM
Subject: [ARC5] US Morse Exam History...Commercial versus mateur (OT)

> Ken wrote:
>
>> The 20 WPM code test I took was absolutely identical for both the
>> commercial radio telegraph license and the amateur extra. In fact, there 
>> was
>> a marine radio officer retaking his code test at the same session since 
>> he
>> had accidentally let his license lapse and had to retake the test. Of 
>> course he
>> passed with no problem.
>
> Aye, there's the rub!  That commercial telegraph examinee was less than
> half-way past the Morse testing required for the commercial telegraph 
> license,
> with a much more difficult part (for most) yet to come.
>
> The commercial Radiotelegraph Third and Second Class licenses has had the 
> same
> Morse exam requirements since the mid-1930s, requiring both of two very 
> different
> tests administered in this order:
>
> A.  20-WPM Plain-Language Including Punctuation
> Five minutes copy with one minute (100 consecutive characters) perfect 
> copy.
> Five minutes send with one minute (100 consecutive characters) perfect 
> copy.
>
>       PLUS
>
> B.  16-WPM Five-Character Alphanumeric Random Code Groups
> Five minutes copy with one minute (80 consecutive characters) perfect 
> copy.
> Five minutes send with one minute (80 consecutive characters) perfect 
> copy.
>
> Most find the 20-wpm plain language test to be child's play compared
> to the 16-wpm code group test.  Five errors in an otherwise perfect copy
> of the the 400 characters sent can be enough to cause failure.  There's no
> way to look at what has been copied to correct or complete the copy.  Code
> group copy, even at a 16-wpm snail's pace, can be rather difficult until
> one becomes an unthinking copy machine automaton who automatically and
> reflexively can write/type the correct character.  Typewriters and speed
> keys were not allowed for these exams unless the 25-wpm plain language/
> 20-wpm code group tests were being taken for the First Class license or
> the Aircraft Radiotelegraph (Element 7) endorsement.  Semi-auto keys
> and typewriters were limited to only the 25-wpm portion.  Sending
> 20-wpm faultless code on a straight key isn't much fun, even for the
> required five minutes.
>
> I personally would prefer to take several plain language Morse exams
> at 30 wpm rather than one code group exam at 15 wpm if code group perfect
> copy is required.  I made more than one 480-mile round trip to the Kansas
> City FCC office before I passed the code group test, yet never had the
> slightest difficulty with 20-wpm plain language test given just before
> it.  I'd have loved a modern MFJ-418 Code Tutor for code group practice
> on the long drive up to KC! :-)
>
> Extra Class ham Morse exams have *always* been far less taxing.
>
> Originally (1951 and later):
> 20 WPM Plain Language Including Limited Punctuation
> Five minutes copy with one minute (100 consecutive characters) perfect 
> copy.
> Five minutes send with one minute (100 consecutive characters) perfect 
> copy.
>
> Over the years by the mid-1960s, some FCC examiners "unofficially"
> dropped the sending test for the ham tests.
>
> In the late 1970s the FCC changed the passing criteria, basing it
> on ten fill-in-blank questions rather than on "one minute perfect
> copy".  The text was in typical ham QSO format, and the sending test
> was officially dropped.  In the early 1980s, the FCC further altered
> the exam to ten multiple-choice questions where the correct answer to
> each question required knowledge of two items from the sent text.
>
> In the early 1990s, the FCC reduced their work-load required for the
> rarely administered commercial Radiotelegraph Third and Second Class
> license Morse exams by allowing credit for the commercial Morse
> exams if a ham Extra was held.  This was a gross drop in the standards
> formerly required for a commercial telegraph license.
>
> I dropped my Radiotelegraph Second Class license after that, even
> though a couple of years earlier I had received a solicitation
> from a US maritime radio operator union in response to reactivation
> of some US commercial maritime assets that needed US radio officers.
>
>> At that time, the exam for Amateur Extra was the most difficult.
>
> That must refer to the written exam.  The *total* Morse exam process was
> always much less difficult for the ham Extra exam.
>
> The written exams for the commercial telegraph license (elements 1, 2,
> and 5 for the Third Class, plus element 6 for the Second and First
> Class, plus element 8 for the Ship Radar endorsement) were not terribly
> difficult, but they were quite different in flavor from ham Extra
> and even the commercial radiotelephone exams...much older and almost
> totally vacuum-tube or earlier technology.  When I took my telegraph
> exams 32 years ago, the exam for advanced radiotelegraph (element 6)
> was dated twenty years before that.  Ten of its 100 questions required
> schematic drawing/completion and short written answers.  There was very
> little solid-state exam matter, and there was even some exam material
> on crystal receivers for emergency use found in old marine radio
> installations.
>
> It's been a really long time since ham written exams were anything
> but all multiple-choice questions.  The subject matter for the ham
> written exams was much more contemporary.
>
> 73,
> Mike / KK5F
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