Memories of the General test in 1955 article

[K5UJ]

Pretty good reminiscence article on ARRL website by one ham recalling his FCC General test in 1955:

http://www.arrl.org/lurching-toward-general

Too bad the tests aren't still like that now.

[W3GMS]

Rob,
That sure brings back a lot of memories.  Mine was a few years later, but the process was the same.  Joe Welsh was the FCC examiner in Phila back when I took my exams. 

I remember the elevator ride along with the sweaty palms!  The CW exam was given with one of those paper tape machines.  Joe Welsh was very stern and official. 

Thanks for edging the memories to once again surface!

73,
Joe, W3GMS

[WA2ROC]

I also am one of those former "kids" that had to go to 641 Washington Street in New Your City, only in 1962, to take my General test.  

My two good friends and neighbors, John WA2MUA and Rick WA2ODI (now SK) had done it, so why couldn't I?

And I did!

When I found out that I had passed, the ride home on the Long Island Rail Road seemed a lor shorter than the ride into the city, and for good reason.

Oh yes, I remember it well.....

I do remember everything that was mentioned in that article, but there was one more thing that was not mentioned.

The cigar smell!!!

[Pete, WA2CWA]

Yep, I also made the trip with 3 other friends (two of which were visually impaired) to the nasty looking building at 641 Washington St., NYC. at 15. FCC Examiner was Charlie Finkleman with the nasty looking and smelly cigar. Out of roughly 25 that took the code test that morning, only the four of us got to move on to the written test. I don't remember how the written test was administrated to the visually impaired fellows. I was so tense copying the code, all I remember was just writing all the letters one after the other. When told to stop, I figured I failed, since I couldn't seem to make any sense of all these letters strung out one after the other much less any words. I think you had to get 60 or 65 characters in a row correct (or something like that). I think my first gray hair appeared that morning. We all past the written test and then spent the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon wandering Radio Row. I remember all of us carrying radio related stuff on the subway up to Penn Station where we took the train back to central Jersey.

[Steve - K4HX]

Was it up hill, both ways?

[K1JJ]

That was a really good article.  Interesting that the "real" Lurch did not appear on the scene until about 1963 or so... but only we OT's would catch that.


I remember the ride up to the Boston Customhouse in June 1965, about 70 miles away. I was very nervous and barely ate breakfast.  I had failed the Conditional written test two months before, so was loaded for bear for the General class this time. With me was Ed, W1RFI (then WN1CYF)  and my father who was driving the car.  I was 13 and Ed was about 15.

I remember the code test.  I was a CW ace and could do 30 wpm with a bug, so 13wpm was a cakewalk. Ed was pretty good too. Ed sat at the same table and I could easily see him writing. When the code started, I noticed Ed occassionally got frustrated and crossed out a letter here and there. I started to laugh as I copied. That was so bizzaro. Can you imagine laughing at a serious time like that?

The examiner was a nice, friendly guy. He looked over our papers and said we both passed the code.

The written test was uneventful, but I still had emotional scars from failing the Conditional test. The examiner said we both passed and out the door we went. On the way home we talked about the questions and answers and what rigs we were planning to get for the 75M phone band...

That old license manual was something else. I still remember some of the questions and answers by heart: "What is the purpose of a filter in a plate power supply system?  Answer: To filter out the AC ripple and make it pure DC."
  
T

[WA1GFZ]

Ah the Customs House. I remember the opened window behing Sarno's desk. I heard him reading a JN the riot act over TVI. I thought of him throwing the kid out the window because of the bogus excuse given. I got my General and Advanced in West Hartford if I remember when the FCC gave tests at the Army Reserve
Took my Second Class in S.F. a cool time.

[W2DU]

Hello Joe, I just now composed an email to you, and as I was about to review it it disappeared and I can't find it. So I'll try to reconstruct it.

This is about Joe Welsh.

After passing my original ham exam in 1933 I took the 1st Phone and 2nd Telegraph exams in 1940, and used them during the following years. However, after joining the RCA Laboratories in Princeton in 1949, it appeared that I no longer needed them, and forgot they existed. One day I found them, discovering they had expired. So I called the NY FCC office asking what I could do. A gruff voice said to come to NY and retake the exams. I thought I'd need review time before taking the tests again, time I didn't have, so I said, "Such is  Life." The examiner didn't mention the grace period, and I was unaware of it. Actually, I was still within the grace period, but didn't know it.

In November 1967 I went to the Philly FCC office to take the Extra exam--20 wpm and 100 T or F questions. Passed easily. Examiner? None other than Joe Welsh!!!

So I then told Joe about the rude treatment I received in NY. So Joe said,  "You've got the pencils and I've got the papers--retake the exams while you're here." The total exams included six elements for both tickets--four for the 1st  Phone and two for the 2nd Telegraph--plus 20 wpm five-letter code test.

So with Joe Welsh's encouragement, I took the entire group and passed, regaining both tickets, with no review. But what would I use them for?

It turned out it was fortunate that I regained the 1st Phone ticket. During the NABET strike against NBC in 1976 there were no tx ops available for any of NBC's stations, coast-to-coast. At 30-Rock personnel went through the employee lists to determine if any had phone licenses--there were many--enough to serve all NBC stations.

I was sent to Chicago to operate WMAQ AM, FM and TV transmitters on the 93rd floor of the John Hancock building. Three of us handled all the operations that were normally handled by seventeen ops! This included TV remotes--never a hitch--talk about fun!!!

The crowning glory while at WMAQ was meeting Jane Pauley. What a wonderful gal! She was still at WMAQ prior to moving to New York.

30,

Walt
              

[Burt]

Pretty good reminiscence article on ARRL website by one ham recalling his FCC General test in 1955:

http://www.arrl.org/lurching-toward-general

Too bad the tests aren't still like that now.

Somewhat how I remembered it
Was the examiners name Finkelstein?
Burt

[AJ1G]

My experiences going for my WB2ZPS General in the fall of 1967 were pretty much the same as Pete CWA's - I was 15 at the time and rode down to NYC with another Novice  from our local club, Bob Meyer, WN2ZQV.  Bob was an ex Army Air Force radio operator who flew on the Berlin Airlift and was therefore a great CW op.  I remember copying CW for a very long time on the receive test.  Finkelman cut me off on the sending test after about 10 seconds...passed!  My most lasting impression from the experience (aside from the smell of Finkleman's cigar) was watching a guy copying CW for his first class commercial radiotelegraph ticket.  His pencil seemed to be flyng across the page, because he was making GIGANTIC letters for some reason.

[Pete, WA2CWA]

  Finkelman cut me off on the sending test after about 10 seconds...passed! 

Yep, he did the same thing to me. Handed me a sheet of page with a paragraph on it; sent the first couple of letters; he grabbed the sheet of paper and said passed.

[KM1H]

I came out of the hole in the ground and passed the General on 10/11/56 exactly 2 months and 2 days before I turned 16. I dont remember any hardasses from the FCC, the tests went smoothly and then headed over to Radio Row scrounging for cheap surplus parts. Others from school had already made the trip weeks earlier but I didnt feel ready yet so went solo.

Much later the Extra was taken in Boston about a month before Incentive licensing took effect. A whole crowd from National made it to that one and most of us didnt make it back to work

Carl

[k4kyv]

I took my Extra in 1963.  Had my General since 1959. Sometime in between I  had acquired the 2nd class Radiotelephone, then a friend who had  just landed a job with Ma Bell working on microwave towers, needed a 1st Class. So I went with him to the FCC test site to take mine.  I figured that  since I had zero preparation for the last minute decision to go for the test, that I would fail, but at least have an idea what to expect when I  took the test for real. On the way down, about a 1 hour drive, I looked over a Q-A manual and memorised things like what is the FM deviation of the sound channel of a standard TV broadcast signal.

I took the commercial exam, and felt pretty confident.  The questions were much easier than what I remembered from the 2nd class.  I decided, since I was already at the FCC examination point, to try for Amateur Extra.  My friend said he had to get back to town for work, so he couldn't wait for me.  I told him to go ahead, I would hitch-hike back home if necessary.  I was taking the exam completely cold, so hadn't practised code, other that the occasional CW QSO.  I was the only one taking the Extra that day.  The FCC examiner played the code tape on an old reel-to-reel machine, and I had to listen to the code from the speaker, played in a room with marble walls and plenty of reverb.  I copied the code as I heard it, and remembered a few mistakes in copying.  When the test was over, I went back to correct the mistakes I had made, and corrected a couple before the staid FCC examiner picked up my paper and told me I wasn't allowed to correct mistakes.

A few  minutes later he came back and informed me that I had passed the code test!  I probably passed by the skin of my teeth, and if I  hadn't managed to correct the couple of errors before the examiner took my paper, I probably would have failed. He gave  me the paperwork for the written exam. I was surprised how similar the 1st Class Radiotelephone exam was to the written part of the Extra Class ham exam.  Some of the Q-As were identical verbatim.

I sat for the test, and as I was about to leave, I ran into a local ham who had come to take his General (which he passed). He gave me a ride home.  A month later, to the day, I got two letters from the FCC.  I had passed both the Extra Class ham exam and the 1st Class radiotelephone.  Ironically, my friend, who had initiated the whole event, failed his, and had to go to Atlanta 30 days later to re-take the exam, which he then passed.

Both tickets later proved worth the effort. My first real job with a pay-check, was chief engineer of a local daytime-only AM broadcaster (I thought I was in real money in 1964, $50 a week for 20 hours of work).  And, of course, the Extra Class, which had been an honorary licence with no additional privileges beyond General up to that time, became useful when the Incentive Licensing debacle went into effect.

[Opcom]

Here's a humorous depiction of the FCC licensing exams of the ancient times and today. I guess the facts lie somewhere in between. For some reason I wish I'd had the same kind of study, effort, and exam experiences as 1955 but I was not around then and things have changed a lot.

[K5UJ]

All my FCC ham license exams were at the old downtown post office in Memphis (which I think has since been torn down).  FCC went there 2 or 4 times a year from Atlanta.  They carried everything in these aluminum Airstream trailer looking brief cases.  Because of the hassle getting there and the waiting time if you failed and the tests not being a regular thing, I always worked hard to make sure I'd pass.   I took the General test in 1973.  Back then all the CW tests were a piece of cake because all I ever operated was CW and I used to handle traffic for Mississippi in the Fifth Region Net.  So I sweated the "written" multiple guess test.  I don't remember much about it except that the tests were always in a drab institutional looking class room on an upper floor in the building which was one of those stone monolithic looking structures one would associate with government.  It was always the same FCC guys and the one I remember was a silent cowboy type who said as little as possible.  He'd grade the tests while you stood there and either said "Passed" or "Failed to pass."  I took about 2 or 3 times longer than other people because I did not recall there being any time limit and I wanted to make damn sure about every answer.  I upgraded annually so I got Advanced in '74 and Extra in 1975.  I was a 9 land novice so when I passed my General my call sign changed to WB5KUJ.  

For years I kept all of my licenses with every renewal, upgrade, address change.   Somehow, I misplaced them around 20 years ago in a move and never was able to find them.  I eventually gave up looking figuring I had thrown them out by accident.  Last winter when I was cleaning out the basement to make room for my workshop I went through an old army duffle bag and found them.  I was absolutely delighted (there's nothing rational about this) and put them away in a lock box.


p.s. I'd like to hear more stories from you guys about Radio Row in NYC...the Harrison Wall of Collins etc. My HT-20 was purchased at Radio Row.

[Burt]

p.s. I'd like to hear more stories from you guys about Radio Row in NYC...the Harrison Wall of Collins etc. My HT-20 was purchased at Radio Row.

When I shopped for my rig in 1959 in radio row there were signs all over the place posted by radio row merchants protesting plans for a world trade center. The center was built and radio row was no more. 40 years later the WTC was no more. My daughter said 9/11 was for her what my 11/22/63 was and her grandmother's 12/7/41. Hopefully there will be no more dates like that to remember
Burt

[W3GMS]

Hello Joe, I just now composed an email to you, and as I was about to review it it disappeared and I can't find it. So I'll try to reconstruct it.

This is about Joe Welsh.

After passing my original ham exam in 1933 I took the 1st Phone and 2nd Telegraph exams in 1940, and used them during the following years. However, after joining the RCA Laboratories in Princeton in 1949, it appeared that I no longer needed them, and forgot they existed. One day I found them, discovering they had expired. So I called the NY FCC office asking what I could do. A gruff voice said to come to NY and retake the exams. I thought I'd need review time before taking the tests again, time I didn't have, so I said, "Such is  Life." The examiner didn't mention the grace period, and I was unaware of it. Actually, I was still within the grace period, but didn't know it.

In November 1967 I went to the Philly FCC office to take the Extra exam--20 wpm and 100 T or F questions. Passed easily. Examiner? None other than Joe Welsh!!!

So I then told Joe about the rude treatment I received in NY. So Joe said,  "You've got the pencils and I've got the papers--retake the exams while you're here." The total exams included six elements for both tickets--four for the 1st  Phone and two for the 2nd Telegraph--plus 20 wpm five-letter code test.

So with Joe Welsh's encouragement, I took the entire group and passed, regaining both tickets, with no review. But what would I use them for?

It turned out it was fortunate that I regained the 1st Phone ticket. During the NABET strike against NBC in 1976 there were no tx ops available for any of NBC's stations, coast-to-coast. At 30-Rock personnel went through the employee lists to determine if any had phone licenses--there were many--enough to serve all NBC stations.

I was sent to Chicago to operate WMAQ AM, FM and TV transmitters on the 93rd floor of the John Hancock building. Three of us handled all the operations that were normally handled by seventeen ops! This included TV remotes--never a hitch--talk about fun!!!

The crowning glory while at WMAQ was meeting Jane Pauley. What a wonderful gal! She was still at WMAQ prior to moving to New York.

30,

Walt
              

Hi Walt,

What a great story and I now see how Joe Welsh benefited your career!  Thanks for sharing those memories.  Looking back, it was great that he encouraged you to re-take the elements to get your First Phone for the second time.  It sounds like your BC stint was a blast! 

Joe was stern when I faced him, but very fair.  A friend of mine went down to upgrade and when it came to the CW sending test, my friend just skipped over the punctuation symbols.  I can hear Joe telling him this now, I should fail you because you skipped the punctuation symbols!  He said, send it again but this time don't skip the punctuation symbols.  He did send them correctly and Joe handed him the theory exam which my friend passed. 

Joe was very active in Scouting and really a great guy.  When he became an SK, I was offered his Hallicrafters HT-37 and SX-111, which I still have.  When I was a 13 year old kid, I never thought I would end up with my FCC examiners gear!  What a treat it is to have Joe's old station. 

73,
Joe   

[K3ZS]

I had the same experience in Philadelphia in 1958 when I was 13.   I went with two other young hams about the same age.   I was the only one who passed the general and it was the first time taking the test.   There is one thing, I don't remember ever having to do a code sending test.  I also can't imagine letting three 13 year old kids traveling by themselves into Philadelphia now.

[WD8BIL]

My 7th grade shop teacher, a general class, gave me my novice test. He sent something out of Ulysses for 5 minutes and I copied it 100%.

He gave me the book and key for the sending test and I took off like a bat outta hell with it.
"Damn, Chiller, slow down. I can't tell if you're making mistakes or just BSn with me."

I flunked him!

[W3GMS]

I had the same experience in Philadelphia in 1958 when I was 13.   I went with two other young hams about the same age.   I was the only one who passed the general and it was the first time taking the test.   There is one thing, I don't remember ever having to do a code sending test.  I also can't imagine letting three 13 year old kids traveling by themselves into Philadelphia now.

I got on the bus at the bus station in West Chester then got the "L" (sp) at 69th st.to go down into Phila to take the exam.  That was back in the day where you did not worry about a 13 year old kid traveling alone.  When it came time to upgade, I went down with some friends who were taking exams as well. 

Fun times....
Joe, W3GMS     

[k4kyv]

When I shopped for my rig in 1959 in radio row there were signs all over the place posted by radio row merchants protesting plans for a world trade center. The center was built and radio row was no more. 40 years later the WTC was no more.

Precisely why I still mourn the 3000 innocent lives lost that day, but have never shed my first tear over the loss of those buildings.

[KM1H]

My Radio Row adventures began in 1952 when my father took me there just to see the place as it was as much a tourist attraction as a ham mecca.
We lived in Brooklyn on Greene Av in the Bushwick section then so it wasnt much of a stretch to hop on the El, transfer to the subay and go to lower Manhattan. About a year later I was really hooked on listening to hams on AM when at relatives but there was no SW radio at home. That led to a HB regen out of a Popular Mechanics where all parts came from Radio Row and by 55 I was ready for the Novice and an endless stream of trips to the city. It wasnt the Big Apple back then.

By late 54 we were living out in Valley Stream in Nassau County so it was a hassle to travel by bike a mile to the bus route (left it at a hot rod shop owned by dads friend) then a bus to Jamaica and 2 subway transfers.

By 55 I was taking the bike all the way unknown to my parents until years later. The trip was mostly along the edge of the Southern State Pkwy and I made good time. The bike had a big front basket and dual rear paperboy side bags hanging between the chrome crashbars on a customized, candy apple red metalflake, single speed Roadmaster. It could handle a lot of goodies and helped build my leg strength and stamina...I later lettered in track. Several years later the exercise was a big help in mast climbing in the Navy and later ham and commercial towers where I did moonlight service work to 1000' in the Boston area. I still climb the 4 towers here with the tallest at 180'.

The bus/subway trip for the General was an exception as my folks made me dress up and look respectable

Eventually I got my drivers license so either my dads 53 stick shift Olds, 57 Buick Century 4Dr HT or my hopped up and customized 49 Ford or 49 Olds made the trip. Cars and ham radio continue to be parallel obsessions to this day.

I didnt buy much at Harrison, Arrow or the other retail stores but regularly went in to socialize and read the private for sale listings. My HQ-129X, Viking I, and several small items came from those listings. Arrow later moved out on LI.

Joined the Navy in late October 59 and made periodic visits to Radio Row including a major restocking when the ship was in Hoboken, NJ for a 8 month overhaul. By the time we did a shakedown cruise, a couple of other short trips and then a 7 month Med cruise Radio Row was no more. I rember many protest signs and even a few demonstrations but didnt get involved.

It really didnt matter that much as I landed a job at National and discovered all of the Boston area surplus shops and seemingly never ending hamfests "all the way" into NH and ME. By 67 I was living in NH.

From mid 70 to late 73 I was working in the Chicago area for Sanders Associates, a NH company, and found the surplus shops and hamfests to be almost non existent. Did very little hamming even tho Id moved a 100 and 120' tower and soon sold those and did some DX contest guest operating but mostly built various styles of cars....custom, street rod, muscle.

Then moved back to NH where Ive been in the same town ever since.

Carl

[Sam KS2AM]

Speaking of Radio Row...

The only photos I've been able to find on the web are a few relatively low-res pics of some of the store fronts and street scenes.

Anyone have any links to any collections of Radio Row photos ?  Anyone have any Radio Row pics of their own that they care to post here ?


Sam / KS2AM

[WA3VJB]

Went to the federal building in Baltimore in 1973 to take my Advanced, but I missed it and walked out with a General. 

There was some urgency because I had nearly used up my two-year, non-renewable Novice Class license.

Applied for a waiver to the re-test schedule, and passed it next try within a few weeks. My "incentive licensing" was to get on 3885, and that required the Advanced.

Baltimore in those days had not yet re-developed into the shining waterfront metropolis it is today.  I drove my Grandfather's 1964 Buick to the News-American parking lot, and took my bicycle from there to the federal building since parking was a mess.

I remember wheeling by a lot of broken down buildings, urban decay, and a crumbling wharf that later would become the retail and business complex known as "Inner Harbor."

As for the test, I think the code was machine-generated for me to receive, maybe a perf tape reader?  I used a hand key to demonstrate transmitting skill.  Passed what then was a 13wpm test.

Anonymous men in white shirts sat at government-issue metal desks. Most of them were concurrently administering First and Second Class commercial licenses and probably treated us as an unproductive nuisance, who knows. 

I was the only "kid" in the room, with maybe five older guys. None of us knew one another, and I was outside the chronological sequence of call signs among Novices because I had traded into a 3-call as required when I moved in from another district. So never did get to know the others.

[Pete, WA2CWA]

Radio Row: http://www.antiqueradio.com/Sep02_RadioRow_Steinhardt.html