[Elecraft] Another urban legend: (OT)

[Mike Morrow]

Jim Brown wrote of old FCC ham exams:

> 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 took ham Morse tests during once-a-quarter or semi-annual group sessions at the Memphis Post Office and the Tulsa Federal Building.  I never saw a code exam room that could be called acoustically adequate.  But the examiners could be more than fair.  When I handed in my first attempt to copy five minutes of 13 wpm in 1968, it was total gobblygook!  Still, the examiner very generously gave me credit for 5 wpm and let me take the Technician/General written exam to get a "supervised" Technician license.  The FCC wisely did not allow credit for exam elements they didn't administer, so if one had the normal "conditional" (from a volunteer examiner) Technician ticket, one had to repeat the written exam under FCC eyes to get a General ticket.

I took a couple of commercial Morse exams at the Kansas City FCC office under pretty good acoustic conditions, but I was always the only examinee.  They didn't get many requests for commercial telegraph operator exams.

There was nothing like the feeling of achievement had after a successful 13 wpm or 20 wpm FCC exam, often taken after earlier failures and months of waiting for the next time the FCC came back to the area.  It was a wonderful feeling that recent hams, through no fault of their own, are denied.

73,
Mike / KK5F