Extra Class License Test TOO EASY?

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Project25_MASTR

Millennial Graying OBT Guy
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Too easy, let's bring back 20 wpm on top of the easy test. That's what separates the men from the boys.

Let's bring back 13 wpm for the General Class, how about 5 wpm for the Tech.

Oops...too easy...

Being 13 years old, having to go to a real FCC office and pass the test and 13 wpm was a challenge. No computers, no internet. Books!

My 2 cents.
Kinda pointless however when no other country in the world requires any form of code. That's why it was dropped in the first place.

Not to mention, closest FCC field office to me is 350 miles away. I'd do it if you were to cover my food, fuel, and lodging.
 
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chrissim

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I got involved in amateur astrophotography years ago. Regardless of what forum I visited or how elementary the question, I was always greeted by replies from users who were more than enthusiastic to help me further my understanding of even the most basic principles of the hobby.

From what I have seen in the past year since first being licensed, amateur radio is one of the few hobbies in which there is a great proportion of practioners who for some inexplicable reason feel they must segregate themselves from the new entrants into the hobby. The assumption that I'm not a "man" because I didn't have to suffer through code to pass is preposterous and speaks to some hidden inadequacy that someone who posts such nonsense must be harboring.

New ops need support, not discouragement from curmudgeons who pride themselves on belittling others. If you're unable to do so, please keep your negativity to yourself.
 

AC2OY

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One thing this hobby has taught me and is still teaching me is at fifty years of age...I'm still teachable and can learn. I'm very proud to have passed my extra ticket. I still have miles to go but it's all good because I want to continue to learn.
 

k3cfc

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Too easy, let's bring back 20 wpm on top of the easy test. That's what separates the men from the boys.

Let's bring back 13 wpm for the General Class, how about 5 wpm for the Tech.

Oops...too easy...

Being 13 years old, having to go to a real FCC office and pass the test and 13 wpm was a challenge. No computers, no internet. Books!

My 2 cents.

I am with you on this one. sweating two pipes together doesn't make you a plumber, nailing two boards together doesn't make you a carpenter. this is why we have appliance operators on the air. i have seen people ask questions on unnamed forums about things they should already know if they studied not memorized the answers. but what can you do?

K3CFC
 

chrissim

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I know plenty of extra class ops that have been licensed for many years that are little more than appliance operators. I have an uncle that's honor roll and whose fist is truly mesmerizing, but can't build a simple doublet. I've also witnessed absolutely horrendous behavior during pileups from extra class ops that have been licensed for thirty plus years.

Rather than argue the point, I'll leave with this: I have taught at the college level as well as the public school level. One facet of human nature that I have observed to be true from my experience teaching is that once adulthood is reached, very few people can change their view regardless of the material presented if it conflicts with an inner belief, especially one that they've clung to most of their adult life. Many of you truly believe that ops today are inherently less able than the ops of yesteryear based on the premise of a test.

Just a little more than a year ago I couldn't tell you what a dipole was. As of today I have built numerous antennas, including a 6 meter beam. Most of us, regardless of what's on a test, will continue on the path of learning if we're truly interested in it.

I'm an extra class, and I didn't have to draw out a schematic or know code to become one. My final thoughts to those of you who feel I and those like me got off easy...too bad!
 

Token

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Mojave Desert, California, USA
I got involved in amateur astrophotography years ago. Regardless of what forum I visited or how elementary the question, I was always greeted by replies from users who were more than enthusiastic to help me further my understanding of even the most basic principles of the hobby.

From what I have seen in the past year since first being licensed, amateur radio is one of the few hobbies in which there is a great proportion of practioners who for some inexplicable reason feel they must segregate themselves from the new entrants into the hobby. The assumption that I'm not a "man" because I didn't have to suffer through code to pass is preposterous and speaks to some hidden inadequacy that someone who posts such nonsense must be harboring.

New ops need support, not discouragement from curmudgeons who pride themselves on belittling others. If you're unable to do so, please keep your negativity to yourself.

Astrophotography does not have testing requirements before you are allowed to participate, nor does it allow different levels of access and technology based on testing results and licensing. Anytime you have testing and codified different privileges some will perceive themselves as "better" because they have tested to a higher level, regardless of their actual capabilities or performance. Side note, it is interesting how many hams are also into astronomy in some way, and astrophotography particularly.

However I have to disagree with part of what you say. There is not "a great proportion of practioners who for some inexplicable reason feel they must segregate themselves from the new entrants into the hobby". The number is quite few and getting fewer every year, particularly with regards to the fact one might, or might not, have passed a code test. Of course, even though few in number those types are the ones that tend to be remembered.
Even in this thread, now up around 170 post, only a very few discuss code at all, and fewer still advocate code testing in todays world.

Did I take code tests? Yes, several. However I would never advocate bringing back code testing as a requirement to licensing, I know too many now proven good hams who were kept out of the hobby by code. Does that mean I think / thought code testing was a bad thing? No.

When code testing was a requirement the average ham entering the hobby had better exposure and more familiarity with the basics of ham radio before he was ever allowed to key a transmitter. While one could study for the test all alone and potentially pass the written portion without any exposure to the hobby, just as today, as a practical matter that was very hard to do (and I know of no one who did it) with regards to the CW elements of the testing. To learn CW almost everyone had to interact with people who already were licensed hams, via local face-to-face code practice, shared club resources like tapes, and on-air monitoring. With this interaction the newbs potential knowledge base grew. Of course it was still up to him to make use of this potential knowledge.

It was not the CW itself that made the person a more informed potential ham, but the interaction that occurred during building those CW skills. Even when not described as such this was mentoring, or Elmering, if you prefer. This means almost every ham who entered the hobby at that time had support and encouragement. In today's world human interaction, and transfer of learned skills, is on the decrease. Today you can read all the required information to pass all of the test online, take practice exams online until you ace them all (regardless of if you have learned the information or just the answers), show up at a schedule testing session that you found online, test for and walk out with a CSCE for the highest license class possible. And until you received the testing materials from the VE you might have never talked with an actual ham or had any exposure to ham radio outside the published question pool.

Don't say it does not happen, I know people who have done it.

So while I can't see a code requirement as a good thing, I can see the forced interaction it brought about as a very good thing indeed. In my opinion that near universal support for people wanting to enter the hobby has gone away, and I have no idea what can bring it back.

But, that has nothing to do with the Extra test, as it is not supposed to be an entry level test of any kind ;) Are there bad Extras? You bet, always has been, always will be. Also bad Generals and Techs. Ham radio is a cross section of the society it comes from, with the same ratios of idiots, great guys, and middle of the roaders.

T!
 
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kc0kp

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Yes, the Extra Class test was the easiest.
Like most, I started as a Novice, passing the 5 wpm code killed me but I did it. Did not have a single contact during the one year I was one and the license died.
Seven years later, I discovered 2 meter FM. Same code and the General written. Passed it. I was convinced I would never do 13 wpm so stayed a tech.
Then I discovered techs had code privileges on ten meters. Playing in the novice and tech code segments, practice got me up to 18. So myself and two buddies went to the FCC office to take the test.
13 wpm test was a breeze. Since the fee we paid allowed us to take whatever tests we wanted, we stayed to take the Advance. None of us studied, we were all convinced we would flunk the code anyway. I got mine with lowest score possible and the other two missed by one. We determined I made a better guess on a rules and regulation question that allowed me to pass. They retook the test and scored way higher than I did. So I was a General for about 30 minutes.
The Extra was taken well after the code elimination and was passed on the first try.
By far and away the toughest FCC test was element three for the second class. Like the Extra, element 4 for the First Class license was anticlimactic.
I took all four elements in one sitting. They stopped grading after the first failed element so I left with a third class after only passing element one and two . I successfully retook the rest of them one at a time later.
 
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