Subj : MORSE CODE
To   : David Pratt
From : Roy Witt
Date : Sat Sep 16 2000 06:04 am

Hello David.

12 Sep 00 23:50, you wrote to me:

 DP>  -=> Quoting Roy Witt to David Pratt <=-

 DP>> "2736   (2) Administrations shall take such measures as they judge
 DP>> necessary to verify the operation and technical qualifications of
 DP>> any person wishing to operate the apparatus of an amateur station."

 RW>> Notice it doesn't mention the use of or testing in morse code.  At
 RW>> one time, as recently as 1998, I believe it did.

 DP> Sorry, my mistake Roy, it does....

 DP> "2735 3.  (1)  Any person seeking a licence to operate the apparatus
 DP> of an amateur station shall prove that he is able to send correctly
 DP> by hand and to receive correctly by ear texts in Morse code signals.
 DP> The administrations concerned may, however, waive this requirement in
 DP> the case of stations making use exclusively of frequencies above 30
 DP> MHz."

 DP> I am not sure how the FCC got away without requiring a sending test
 DP> as part of Units 1A, 1B or 1C, but they have.  In the UK, we still
 DP> have a sending test in which the candidate is not allowed any
 DP> uncorrected errors.

I passed the 13wpm General exam in 1979 and never had to prove I could
send, nor did I have to prove I could copy code.  All I had to do was
answer questions about the content of a morse code session they played on
tape.  For all they know, I could have looked at the answer sheet of
someone else.

PS; actually it was the other way around, I copied the code session and
wrote down the right answers. A friend of mine, who wasn't as code savvy
with a stumbling block at less than 10wpm, just happened to look over at
my answers...


.... Ham on rye: A drunk amateur radio operator.
--- Twit(t) Filter v2.1 (C) 2000
 * Origin: KB6PI's Cantina * Santa Ysabel, CA (1:10/22)

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