Upgrade now......"dont say nothin, juss do it!"

[w3jn]

OK, I took test 2.  88%, 11 minutes (I found the timer keeps running after you finish, took me a minute to open Paint and prtscreen)  I spose now you're gonna accuse me of photoshopping it  

[W1ATR]

OK, I took test 2.  88%, 11 minutes (I found the timer keeps running after you finish, took me a minute to open Paint and prtscreen) I spose now you're gonna accuse me of photoshopping it 

I don't know about this. How about a video of you taking the test 20 times in a row, then we can average it.

[ke7trp]

I was joking. I know you know your stuff. Good job!

C

[ka3zlr]

Don't Delay......upgrade today....

[w3jn]

I was joking. I know you know your stuff. Good job!

C

I know you were, but I had hoped to better my score.  Too bad I guessed wrong on a couple 

[K5UJ]

john, how much of the test would you say, was actual electronics, and how much was stuff like rules, propagation, operating and station building?

Rob

[K1JJ]

john, how much of the test would you say, was actual electronics, and how much was stuff like rules, propagation, operating and station building?

Rob

As far as I remember, there were no questions about class E, how to strap someone, dropping a mawl, socking a "Yallo", TimTron terms  or modifying a DX-100.  So solly.


That's pretty good, Johnny. You gots me wondering how I could have done so darn lousy on my sample test.. 

T

[W3LSN]

Another unintended consequence of Incentive Licensing was the extinction of probably 90% of the old-line American ham manufacturers, or at least their amateur product lines as in the case of Hammarlund, National, Millen, EF Johnson, Hallicrafters, etc.

Don, I wasn't licensed until 1975. I remember reading that there was a 2-class license system in place before Incentive Licensing. What was the distinction between them?

73, Jim
WA2AJM/3

[Pete, WA2CWA]

Another unintended consequence of Incentive Licensing was the extinction of probably 90% of the old-line American ham manufacturers, or at least their amateur product lines as in the case of Hammarlund, National, Millen, EF Johnson, Hallicrafters, etc.

I seriously doubt incentive licensing had anything to do with these companies amateur radio lines, or in some cases, the entire company disappearing.

Don, I wasn't licensed until 1975. I remember reading that there was a 2-class license system in place before Incentive Licensing. What was the distinction between them?

73, Jim
WA2AJM/3

Back in the "good old days" there was Novice, Technician, General, Conditional, Advanced, and Extra Class licenses.
Briefly, "In 1964, the FCC and the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) developed a program known as "Incentive Licensing," which rearranged the HF spectrum privileges."

If you want to read more about Amateur radio licensing in the United States past and present, go here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_radio_licensing_in_the_United_States
It not a bad overview.

[w3jn]

john, how much of the test would you say, was actual electronics, and how much was stuff like rules, propagation, operating and station building?

Rob

Probably split 1/3-1/3-1/3 electronics, ants,; rules, regs, definitions; operations, propagation, etc.

Take it and find out - hit the "start test" then select Extra, then you can choose which test.  I took tests 1 and 2.

http://www.qrz.com/p/testing.pl

[k4kyv]

wasn't licensed until 1975. I remember reading that there was a 2-class license system in place before Incentive Licensing. What was the distinction between them?

Before 1951 there were the Class A and Class B licences.  Class B was later renamed "General" and Class A "Advanced".

The class B gave all amateur privileges except for phone operation on 75 and 20m.  They still had cw privileges on all amateur frequencies.  They had phone privileges on 160m and 10m.  40m was CW only, much like 30m to-day, so there was on 40m phone.

The class A exam concentrated on radiotelephony theory and operation, with no additional code test.  I seem to recall there was a one-year waiting requirement before one was eligible to take the class A.  With class A, one  could operate phone on 75m and 20m.

The original ARRL proposal was basically to return to the old class A & B system, since the phone bands were becoming very crowded and the number of licensees was growing exponentially following the advent of the Novice licence.  The idea was to level off the runaway growth, which appeared to some to be out of  control, and to improve the overall technical expertise of the amateur community. Instead, the FCC came up with the idea of carving the bands up into sub-bands and sub-sub-bands as we have to-day. Either way might have worked a lot better if they had grandfathered existing Generals to full amateur privileges and imposed the new restrictions only on amateurs who became licensed after the effective date, but by taking away existing privileges from the vast majority of amateurs that they had already earned generated strong resentment in the amateur community that still exists to-day. As a result of the incentive licensing debacle, many US hams dropped their ARRL membership, and it has never fully recovered.

Incentive Licensing was a dismal failure in  terms of its stated goal and purpose.  Just listen to the calibre of technical discussions over the air and compare the technical content of QST or any other amateur radio rag published pre-incentive licensing, to that of QST or CQ to-day.

[KX5JT]

For better or worse, we have the current licensing plan.  I must say I do not feel high and mighty because I have my extra class, but even without the code requirements, it did take some effort and study to pass, mostly due to the questions regarding regulations and some of the technology that I'm not particularly interested in.  At any rate, I feel it is well worth pursuing and I personally love to use the privileges.  It is very nice to be able to work frequencies that are not crowded.  We have the ability to find qrm-free spaces in the Extra class portions of the phone bands and it is a pleasure when a qso occurs in them.  For that reason only, the upgrade was well worth it.  I encourage all who haven't to do so.

JT

[w3jn]

I could care less what license class someone has, or when they passed it.  Are they interesting to talk to, that's the main thing 

[K5UJ]

I could care less what license class someone has, or when they passed it.  Are they interesting to talk to, that's the main thing 

Right.  As Tom put it, the ticket is just the start.  There are Extras with no clue how open wire line works (to pick one example).  I think we would all be a lot more impressed with some General licensee who homebrewed his whole station than we would with an Extra and a bunch of plastic radios.  It's what you do after you get a license that matters. 

It's the same thing with diplomas.   A degree from Princeton or MIT may open doors if the graduate has been out of school less than a year but 5 years later, if he hasn't done anything, feh.  OTOH a guy with a degree from some regional state school but who has been working somewhere and has something to to show for his previous 5 years of work, one or more patents say,  since graduation is much more valuable.   this is why I tell people who want to study something technical in college to save their money and go to a less prestigious school.  The hundreds of thousands of dollars needed now to get through an Ivy League school will get you a gold plated degree with a shelf-life and is only useful if planning to go on to graduate school and an academic/research career. 

[The Slab Bacon]

I remember some years back, I had a buddy that was an extra and a VE as well. I was a lowly technician at the time. He used to bring me his cables to put connectors on! ! He was pretty scared of PL-259s, and terrified of type-N conectors. He also used to always call me on the phone for technical advice. and I had to teach him how to tune up an amplifier.

SHOULDN'T IT HAVE BEEN THE OTHER WAY AROUND? ?   

The bottom line and most of all importance is simply the class of lisence doesnt mean squat! The class of operator is what is all important! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
Like Johnny said I dont really give a hoot what class of lisence you have al long as you can fuster up an interesting QSO. It's just nice to have the additional frequency privies to get away some of the crap and congestion.

Since they have done away with the 20WPM code requirement it is now easier than ever to get an extra. So why not do it just for the frequency priveleges if absolutely nothing else? It just seems kinda dumb not to when it is as simple as it is now.

I didnt start this thread to slap anyone in the face, or further contribute to the allready existing caste system, but to maybe have fun with some good operators down in a little cleaner, less congested chunk of spectrum.

the responses I was looking for were not a bunch of pissing, moaning, whining, bad attitudes, and slapping each other around. I wanted to see "Hey, I just did it", "I just got mine", "me too", etc.

It is now time for the pissers and moaners to take a few minutes to look at yourselves in the mirror. If we cannot learn to disagree agreeably, and cop attitudes at the drop of a hat, how can we stick together as a group?  


                                                     the Slab Bacon

[ka3zlr]

  I always wanted to sit on the bench with the bunch marked group "B" 

[KX5JT]

I could go into all sorts of "Engineer and Technician" sayings here.  It's true that the license classes do not really portray electronic or radio abillity anymore.  I know quite a few Generals that have built transmitters and use them on the air.  I know quite a few Extras that barely know Ohm's Law.

But one thing it does show is the willingness to go as far as one can with the licensing and the rewards are being able to transmit anywhere in the amateur bands.  I think that's a worthy goal if one wants it. 

That being said, it is true that interesting characters and QSO's do not necessarily correlate with license class. 

JT

[KX5JT]

Where's Officer Obie?

[KB2WIG]

.

[W1AEX]

You know, there was one question in the extra exam pool I simply refused to answer "correctly". It asked what a reasonable filter width would be for an AM signal. The "correct" response is 6kc, but I liked the 15kc answer much better!   

[ka3zlr]

Reasonable in who's Terms I say...Why does it have to be reasonable why not experimental...Amateurish.... hey now that's what we need Keep it Amateurish
an within the band edges...Amazing......

I read that somewhere...

[k4kyv]

I remember some years back, I had a buddy that was an extra and a VE as well. I was a lowly technician at the time. He used to bring me his cables to put connectors on! ! He was pretty scared of PL-259s, and terrified of type-N conectors.                                         

Better to be scared of Pl-259s and type N connectors, than to have to ask how to build a simple dipole.

In about 1980 I took a job running the service shop for a two-way radio company.  At first they thought I was a dumb-ass because I didn't know how to wire a PL-259 to RG-8 without following the step-by-step instructions out of the Handbook.  But I had always used open wire line and never had a reason to wire up a coax cable.  They finally figured out that I knew what I was doing when I was able to fix a radio that the rest of them had been scratching their heads over for more than a month.

[K1JJ]

They finally figured out that I knew what I was doing when I was able to fix a radio that the rest of them had been scratching their heads over for more than a month.

That reminds me of the classic ads, "They laughed when I .....  said I would play the piano...  when I said I'd get my degree, etc."   


Back in the mid 70's I was fresh outa college and had built several ham stations from stratch. I was a hot tech. I got my second job at a 2-way Motorola shop in California. They laughed when I didn't even know how to plug in the connecting cables to the radios, nor knew anything about their custom test fixtures.

After a week of familiaration and a lot of ribbing by the boys, I eyed a big pile of "rejects" on the shelf. Every shop has them - the radios that everyone tries to fix and get passed on until they are sent back to the factory for repair. It seemed nobody wanted to disconnect circuits, use a scope or signal generator to isolate things. They all relied on those straight jacket Motorola homo-test fixtures with 15 odd meters on them.

Within two weeks I ran through them all. There were no more rejects left. They started calling me "super-tech". HA! That was sweet revenge.    As one on my buddies used to say who was in the same situation - "A radio is a radio is a radio". Once you are good at troubleshooting, you can adapt the techniques to anything.

T
   

[Bill, KD0HG]

Hey, Tom, I liked that.

Maybe 18 years ago, soon after I got back into broadcasting work, I was working alone late at night on an impossible problem with an old, beat up 20 KW Harris FM transmitter. After trying every trick I knew, frustrated and starting to sweat, I called Jeff, KE0MT for any suggestions he might have.

He said something like, "Well, Bill, approach it this way..It's just like trying to fix an old Johnson Ranger, only everything is bigger.."

I had the problem sorted out a half hour after that.

Indeed, a radio is a radio.

The problem is, the new generation of radios have fiendishly complex digital control and operation circuitry, the factory engineers have programmed the firmware and there's nothing that you can do to change any of the parameters. I have been fighting an issue in an almost new AM box for months...Whenever there is a lightning strike on the stick, even a bug getting zapped in the ball gap, the incredibly fast VSWR sensing trips the transmitter off for maybe 1/2 second, which is painfully obvious to anyone listening. The older transmitters in the same shack might click or pop once, or even don't care or notice anything amiss. So I'm dealing with a factory where someone decided that a 1 microsecond VSWR burp merits a half second off-air. And there's nothing that I can do about it with my Greenie or soldering iron.

[Opcom]

The rejects. I had them all when I worked for the RCA distributor. All warranty work that dealers techs could not fix ended up in my inbox. That was a valuable education which prepared me for my own business and then for Sony Broadcast.

I'm not holding my breath for a new special license where the written test will be detailed and the privelege is a KW of carrier on DSB AM. Wouldn't it be interesting if those already having an extra could apply and test for a mode-specific license that would grant special privileges specific to the mode tested for?