[SMCARA] Ham License

[Clarke, Tom AIR4.0P NATOPS]

You know, we have it pretty easy, ham radio wise, these days!

I was reading a May 1946 QST the other day and came across an article
summarizing the regs, now that ham operation was re-instated.  You may
not know that ham operations were prohibited for the duration of World
War II.

Ham licenses in those days were issued for five years.  The WWII
suspension lasted more than five years, so everyone had to renew their
tickets. One of the requirements for renewal was certification of recent
experience.  To renew you had to show proof of at least 3 contacts
within the past 90 days. Oh!  By the way, those contacts had to be using
radiotelegraph (CW)! This Catch 22 requirement was suspended so all
could renew. This eventually went away, but you had to self certify that
you could still pound out 13 WPM using a straight key!

There were three license classes in those days, A, B, and C.  Class A
gave you unlimited access to all authorized frequencies.  Class B gave
you all privileges with the exception of phone (AM then, SSB didn't come
into use until much later) on 80 and 20 meters! There was no phone at
all authorized on 40 meters! Class C was the conditional license if you
were over 75 miles from an FCC examination office. Yes in those days you
had to go to the nearest FCC office and sit for the written exam and CW
receiving and sending test. I took my first test at the FCC office in
New York City, located near "radio row" in the area that later became
the WTC twin towers. Those examiners were mean looking, old guys capable
of striking fear into the hardiest of souls! Got my tech, but bombed the
13 WPM CW for general. Later on the FCC had a "traveling road show" and
you could take your exam when they came to town every six months. I took
my Advanced in 1977 when the Atlanta FCC office (Friendly Candy Company)
came to Jax Florida to give exams.  Imagine sitting in a gym with 100 of
your best friends and try to concentrate on copying CW and taking the
written!  A friend counseled me to get there early and pick a seat close
to the examiners table (where the CW sending machine was located).  Good
idea, because copying CW in a gym with poor acoustics and lots of normal
"people" noises was a real challenge! Signal to Noise ratio IS
important!

Identification was spelled out in the regs; you must identify the
station you are calling first and then your callsign. Standard phonetics
were required and the use of proper names and places prohibited.  So you
could not identify as "W3 Tokyo Kalamazoo Queensland", etc! (for my
original call, K1AST, I couldn't use my girlfriend's name - Ain't Sue
Terrific either!) Yep it was in the regs. No mention of "For ID"! (-;
You could actually tell a person's class of license and his location by
the call. When I moved from CT to TN, I had to drop the K1 call and
apply for a W4 call (WA4DGM). When I upgraded to Advanced, I received
the W4OKW call.

Frequencies.  80, 40, 20, 11, 10, 2 1/2 (112-116 Mc, called UHF back
then!), and all frequencies above 300 Megacycles (Megahertz had not come
into use at that time). Note that there was no 160 due to LORAN
navigation signals LORAN using 1.8-2.0 Mc (we eventually shared this
band with LORAN and had power restrictions), and yes 11 meters was a ham
band! 15 wouldn't come for another few years.  WARC bands were way in
the future!

You were required to monitor your transmitter frequency before
transmitting.  This sounds like a "Duh!" reg, but remember transceivers
were not in common use and crystal control was the norm.  You typically
had transmitter with a couple of "rocks" (crystals) and a separate
receiver to tune around the band. So, you tuned your receiver to your
crystal frequency, say 3726 to see if anyone was there, then you could
blast out your CQ. You then tuned up and down the band (3700 to 3750 for
the old Novice band) to see if someone was returning your call.  If you
were really somebody, you would have a VFO and could answer a guys call
on his frequency!

Portable and Mobile was spelled out.  A Portable was a stationary
station capable of operating away from the licensed location, and not in
motion. i.e.,  if you took your rig to the mountain cabin to to the
beach for vacation. Mobile was, as expected, operation from a vehicle.
HTs are considered mobile, but not in common use by hams.  The BC-611
Walkie Talky you see in WW II movies were heavy, on HF (around 80
meters), low power, and short range-you were lucky to get a couple of
miles out of them  You had to notify the district FCC Engineer in
Charge, in advance, any time that you were going to operate Portable or
Mobile! Maritime Mobile indicates a mobile station operating in
International Waters and you had to indicate the appropriate ITU Region
1, 2, or 3. Trivia: International waters surrounding US is in Region 2.

Logs were required for every transmission and were subject to inspection
by the FCC. You also had to show your log to certify recent experience
when renewing. The ARRL sold a mini logbook designed for mobile
operation.  Can you imagine what a PIA it would be to have to log all
repeater QSOs?

After all that, you still had to wait 6+ weeks for the ladies at the
Gettysburg FCC office to process your application and mail that little
envelope to you with the long awaited license!

An fascinating look into the early days of ham radio and ARRL is "Two
Hundred Meters and Down" by Clinton B. DeSoto. Way out of print, but I
think it is still available in paperback from the ARRL and on Amazon.

So, you new guys and gals, when you grab that nifty HT that LDG rewarded
you with and start chatting through the many choices of repeaters,
remember that "you've come a long way, Baby!" to borrow a phrase.

Enjoy!

73 Tom/W4OKW