Anybody obtain their Radiotelegraph Operator License Lately?

Dave, not sure I am looking at the right thing, but...

To qualify, you must:

• be a legal resident of (or otherwise eligible for employment in) the United States; and
• be able to receive and transmit spoken messages in English; and
• pass a written and/or telegraphy examination(s) as required by the Rules.
• be at least 21 years old; and
• have one year of experience in sending and receiving public correspondence by radiotelegraph at a public coast station, a ship station, or both.

I am afraid the last bullet would be a show stopper... Am I way out in left field?
John
K4AGO

 

When I took the test a long time ago, 20 WPM plain text, 16 WPM 5 letter/number code groups, one minute solid copy receive and send test on a bug.
Written exam included technical questions all the way back to spark transmitters and cat's whisker emergency reserve receivers.
Also required to draw schematics of several kinds of circuits.

Back then, all us teenagers in the radio club that were into CW sat and passed the exams. The club Elmer encouraged us to excel in all our radio skills.

 

Hi John, yeah you're in left field alright. That last bullet is for the old 1st class (T-1) and that doesn't exist anymore. You don't need any experience to get a T-license, just pass the elements. The only thing experience will get you is a "six-month endorsement" which will be hard to come by, but you can do it if you work as a Radio Officer on a ship. 73 Jeremy N1ZZZ

 

ETA offers all the required elements. You just have coordinate with them. Took me a couple months of politicking to work out the logistics.

 

Getting my GROL + Radar was pretty easy. I just called up and paid when I got to my college testing center, and then took the test. Believe it or not but those licenses are part of my degree in electronics. So they might have set all that stuff up ahead of time in anticipation of the students.

 

My union school is training people to be electronics techs on ships. Those people need to get their GROL, GMDSS-b (operator/maintainer) and radar endorsements. So they already offered elements 1, 3, 7, 8, & 9. Getting them to offer me what I needed for T took me a couple months emailing back and forth and the union people working with ETA to offer the rest of the elements. ETA can do it if you are persistent, but not sure about your school. As an aside, if you can, take element 9 and get your GMDSS-m license. The radio techs who repair ship radios/radars and do the annual tests might be a good career option for you, without having to go to sea. 73 Jeremy