[CW] 99% correct - but still a failure!
Gregory W. Moore
[email protected]
Fri, 09 Jan 2004 01:38:15 -0500
GM fellow late nite posters
I, for one, have to give Dave, N1EA one heck of a lot of credit for
copying and passing the "big 40" on shipboard with the usual MILL..... I
never thought about it, I wish now I had. The closest I ever got to
that was my speed key exam, with the RM1 who "administered" the test,
and this was definitely not a standard tape, it was a regular message,
from a merchant ship, the USNS MIRFAK, who brought supplies to Argentia,
Nfld. The RM1, Bob Finken, just leaned over me and, grabbing the bug ,
just gave the op QRQ, and with an evil, leering grin, watched me sweat,
and hang by my fingernails to the keys for the few minutes it took to
copy the traffic...... I am happy to say I passed the "test", but it is
not by any means, an event I would like to repeat.. I have absolutely NO
idea of the exact speed, except to say "it was fast"--hi-- a lot more
than was required, and not even a standardised tape of characters......
At least it proved I could handle QRQ, a bug, and sweat my butt off
while feeling one was hanging off the edge of a sheer drop--hi..
Does W1AW still offer proficiency certificates? Or, in keeping
with their wimpy image on all things CW, letting it go by the wayside, I
wouldn't mind trying my hand at one again.... If anyone knows if they
do, please let me know time and freq and I will give it a shot...
wouldn't mind one more piece of wallpaper (as if I don't have
enough--hi--) on the shack wall. I really want to
participate, if they do, because, since MARS has now consumed about 99
percent of my operating time, and MARS, alas, has
"retired" CW in '96, it sure is fun to get down on the lower parts of
the band and pound brass once again.... Darn, I miss the mass quanties
of CW that could be found everywhere, sadly today, even replaced with
keyboard and computer translation. I much prefer my lousy glass arm, and
my organic computer, for some real enjoyment. However, since I also
like the warm glow of vacuum tubes, and the violet blinking of Mercury
rectifiers, and the blinking of OA2's etc. under load, as well as the
needed heat in a basement shack, I guess I am somewhat of a
dinosaur......Those times were sure fun, and I really feel fortunate to
have been able to be in on what I didn't know was the "end of an era'"
(the 1960's)
73 es tnx for your comments.... ZUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
de Greg WA3IVX/ NNN0BVN
[email protected] wrote:
>In a message dated 1/8/04 5:01:31 PM Eastern Standard Time, [email protected]
>writes:
>
>
>
>
>>Incidentally, if you calculate the percentage of my accurate copy, but
>>still
>>FAILED performance (6 errors in five minutes, or 1000 characters) my
>>percentage of correct copy was 99.4%.
>>
>>But this was still a fail.
>>
>>Those were the rules - and the same standard applied to all.
>>
>>
>>
>
>That's one way to look at it. Another is that you could get one solid minute
>out of five and pass - that's 80% *wrong*!
>
>I recall that in times gone by you were not allowed to go back and correct or
>fill in your copy after the code stopped. It was "PENCILS DOWN" and whatever
>you had on the paper was what was marked.
>
>I think having a minute or two for corrections and fills is reasonable,
>though.
>
>---
>
>I sometimes wondered if anyone ever had the nerve to set down at an FCC code
>test, copy exactly 66 or 101 characters in big block letters (so there'd be no
>doubt of a solid minute) and then put the pencil down for the rest of the
>test.
>
>73 de Jim, N2EY
>
>
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--
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Greg Moore NNN0BVN PA
U.S. Navy-Marine Corps Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS)
Official Pennsylvania Area Website:
http://pages.prodigy.net/nnn0fbk/mars.htm
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