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

[Richard Knoppow]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Everette" <radiocompass at yahoo.com>
To: "ARC-5 List" <arc5 at mailman.qth.net>; "David Stinson" 
<arc5 at ix.netcom.com>
Sent: Saturday, December 22, 2012 6:40 AM
Subject: Re: [ARC5] US Morse Exam History...Commercial 
versus mateur (OT)


The FCC's data base (?) does not go beyond about 1983.

I ran into this when researching the disappearance of Amelia 
Earhart, for the TIGHAR group.  The question came up as to 
whether Fred Noonan, her navigator, had held a commercial 
radiotelegraph ticket, as was apparently required by his 
employer, Pan American Airways.  At the time of the 1937 
Earhart flight, neither AE nor Noonan had any meaningful CW 
proficiency whatsoever (not much more than character 
recognition at extremely slow speeds); and I found that hard 
to believe if Noonan had ever passed the 2nd Class exam.  No 
information was available from the FCC.

I concluded that, while he may have had a license with his 
name on it, for Pan Am purposes, I wondered if he had 
actually taken the test himself...?  Would have been a lot 
easier to get away with this, back in the 20s/30s.

No way to prove or disprove, that I could find -- short of 
discovering the actual license document, and at that time I 
don't even think there was a requirement for a photo on the 
license.  The photo requirement came about in the 1980s, I 
believe....

73

Mike
W4DSE

     At some point an aeronautical endorsement required a 
very high code speed, 35 WPM plain text or something of the 
sort and nearly as fast code groups.  I don't know when this 
was in effect.  For a long time long distance flights, 
especially over the oceans, used HF for communication.  I 
don't know what the ratio of voice to CAW was but CW seems 
to have been considered very important.
     Now, were AE and FN flying under commercial or amateur 
(aviation) rules?  If as private pilots perhaps their radio 
proficiency did not have to be of a high degree.


--
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles
WB6KBL
dickburk at ix.netcom.com