[Elecraft] New Mystery: Copying groups vs plain language text (Rather OT)

Fri May 1 14:54:12 EDT 2020

My experience is a little different.  I was an airborne voice intercept op in Vietnam.  I flew with 4 other CW ops.  I used to copy the voice 5 character groups until I heard CW.  I would pick up the call sign and then pass it on to the CW ops. Actually this experience was what got me started in ham radio. Also got me interested in really learning CE.

72/73,
EM73vx
Robin
G-QRP #12386
SKCC #7294
W4IEN 
w4ien at comcast.net

> On May 1, 2020, at 14:35, Dave Sublette <k4to.dave at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Folks, I have restrained and refrained from entering this discussion until
> I can no longer endure.  February 1, 1963 I sat for my Extra with the
> District Engineer himself in the Federal Building, downtown San Francisco.
> I never did know his name and I cannot read his signature on the
> certificate on the wall behind me. I was a barely-21 year old Navy Seaman
> going to the ET 'A' School on Treasure Island. I was taking the test
> because one of my classmates had bet me he could get his Extra before I
> could.  If remember correctly he told me he had had 12 screwdrivers that
> night. I doubt it.  Who can count after three of them?
> 
> They gave the exam every Friday at the FCC office.  Friday was exam day
> every week of the 38 week-long school.  In order to take it, I would have
> to get special permission  to take the exam the night before and get the
> the day off next day.  I knew I would be lucky if that happened and I
> wanted to make very sure that I passed if I got the chance. I doubt the
> navy would have allowed a second attempt.
> 
> So for six weeks every night I copied code from 10 wpm through 40 wpm from
> the local code practice station, K6USN. They were the Naval Reserve station
> on the other end of the island from us.  We were the Schools Command
> Amateur Radio Club, K6NCG.  I could turn the RF Gain down on my receiver
> and it was like having your own code machine.  I progressed until I could
> copy 30wpm solid and get four of five written down (five letter groups!). I
> was printing, not writing, and no typewriter.
> 
> When I walked into the FCC office and asked if I could take the Extra code
> and written test, you would have thought I had come from Mars.  They almost
> literally rolled out a red carpet. In those days, very few ever attempted
> the Extra.  So  the engineer in charge ran the code machine. After allowing
> a few minutes of warm up, he started the test tape.  When it finished he
> stood up and said,"I will give you a few minutes to cross your T's and dot
> your I's."  He was really trying to be nice to me.  Well I had copied every
> character from the opening "VVV" to the ending "AR" in neat, block
> letters.  I said, "I don't think that will be necessary,"  and handed him
> my sheet.  he looked at it, smiled and said,"You're right."  I don't think
> he even counted to see if I had 100 characters in a row.
> 
> I completed the written exam in a couple of hours. I'm not sure how many
> questions were on it, but I remember one was , "Draw a schematic diagram of
> a plate modulated transmitter."
> 
> A couple of weeks later I sat for the First Class Engineer License and got
> it, with Ship Radar Endorsement.
> 
> My time at ET school on TI is one of many treasured memories.  I believe it
> was the best of the military electronics schools.  I loved every minute of
> it.
> 
> 73,
> 
> Dave, K4TO
> 
>> On Fri, May 1, 2020 at 1:43 PM Phil Kane <k2asp at kanafi.org> wrote:
>> 
>>> On 5/1/2020 10:15 AM, Joe K2UF wrote:
>>> 
>>> I remember the examiner called me to his desk after the cw test.  He
>>> had my copy folded to show one character and asked me to identify the
>>> character.  I told him what I had copied and he told me I had passed.
>> 
>> ht happened quite often.  I used to announce "up front" that if I cannot
>> read it you cannot receive credit for it, but usually I bent over
>> backwards to pass the examinee.
>> 
>>> I think he just wanted to see a scared kid sweat a little more.
>> 
>> Paraphrasing what one of my mentors once said "do not attribute evil
>> motives on the part of the examiner to the shortcomings on the part of
>> the examinee".   Being scared of the examiner was one of the rites of
>> passage that really had no foundation in reality.
>>> The good old days
>> 
>> For sure.
>> 
>> --
>> 
>> 73 de K2ASP - Phil Kane
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