[CW] Licensing?

[David J. Ring, Jr.]

You're right Jim,

I've seen the FCC inspector do a full minute without errors on some people. 
I had the "full minute" treatment when I tested in Boston in 1981 for my 1st 
class commercial radiotelegraph test with the Engineer-in-Charge.  Only the 
EIC gave the code tests for the commercial exams then.  A full minute at 25 
wpm is a LOT of characters.  Less chance to goof up at that speed.

It almost made me nervous - but since I was allowed to take the test for 25 
wpm sending with a bug (no keyers!) I was confident.  I had the bug set up 
for 28 wpm and just sent the whole thing.

When I did the 20 wpm code test several years earlier (for my commercial) 
the examiner only made me send 20 seconds or so.  Ten years before that when 
I took my Extra, the examiner only made me send four words!

73

David N1EA
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <N2EY at aol.com>
In the bad old days, new hams learned to send and receive code because both 
were tested. Never mind that the examiner might listen to you send for 10 
seconds and say "that's OK" - you'd prepare yourself for *anything*.

But for 20+ years there's been no sending test, so many newcomers don't
bother to learn sending. The sad part is that learning to send helps you 
learn to  receive IMHO.