[Elecraft] OT: The Colpitts mystery

EricJ eric_csuf at hotmail.com
Wed Apr 29 12:07:57 EDT 2020


Poor choice of words on my part, Jim. "Volunteer hams" were NOT VE's . 
They weren't recognized by or known to the FCC other than as ham 
licensees. A prospective ham would find a local ham to volunteer to 
administer the exam and sign some forms. I don't think it could be a 
relative, but other than that it could be any General class ham off the 
street. That action was taken in 1955. I took my Novice exam in 1957 
with some random PFC ham my dad found in his Army unit. He might have 
been his radio operator, but he was a General Class ham from civilian 
life. I have no doubt many Novices were tested by their elmers in those 
days.

What you're probably remembering is the institution of VE's in 1982. 
While not employees of the FCC, of course, they are officially 
recognized examiners by the FCC. Also remember, I'm only talking about 
the Novice and Conditional exams. General class hams were still tested 
by the FCC. For much of that period there were no Advanced or Extra 
licenses issued at all, but until the VE program, they also were tested 
by the FCC.

Eric KE6US


On 4/28/2020 9:27 PM, Jim Brown wrote:
> On 4/28/2020 4:16 PM, EricJ wrote:
>> but some time in the mid-50s it was given over to volunteer hams.
>
> My memory is that it was a LOT later than that. I'd guess late '70s to 
> early '80s.
>
> 73, Jim K9YC
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:Elecraft at mailman.qth.net
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
> Message delivered to eric_csuf at hotmail.com .


More information about the Elecraft mailing list