[Elecraft] re: Another urban legend: clicks needed for readability

[Jim Brown]

On Mon, 23 Feb 2004 12:09:44 -0800, Ron D'Eau Claire wrote:

> the echoes from the walls and
>hard objects in the room fill in the space between the dits with echoes of
>the tones from the prior dits.

I grew up in WV during the 50's. Every three months, we had a three
hour opportunity to take the ham exam when the FCC examiner came to
Charleston, WV, about a 90 minute drive from my home in Huntington. The
13 wpm exam was given in a long narrow room in the basement of a
government office building there. There were about ten rows of four
small desks, and the code sending machine was on a small desk near the
front of the room. About every fifteen minutes, 40 guys walked in, and
about ten minutes later, most of us walked back out. The code
reverberated down the long, cave-like room, and the only guys who ever
passed were among those seated in the front row or two. I flunked the
test there twice. I finally passed it when I took an overnight train to
the Washington, DC office, where, if memory serves, they gave the exam
several days a week, and in far friendlier surroundings. I passed the
General there with no trouble, and a few years later (in 1959), the
Extra.  On both occasions, the examiner graded my test on the spot,
stuck my ticket in a typewriter, and endorsed it! I was walking on air
both times!

Jim Brown  K9YC