This QSO method describes what I sent earlier in this thread .... The FCC did exactly what YOU describe ..... Nothing NEW there with the G4FON QSOS ..... JB
What you describe IS how the FCC tested in the 70's ( without 500 Q's ) ... The essay questions you describe were on the GENERAL class exams ... Without exact question / answer pools ... 'Tis true .... JB ps. I would like to procure copies of the FCC examination papers from 1970 through 1979 ..... They SHOULD be around SOMEWHERE ......
I can relate, I had my TECH (WA1WJB) at the time, and was dismayed that Bermuda did not recognize it. My only hope of getting on the air for that 3 year period was to get the VP9 call, or wait until I could go back to the states on leave and upgrade. The code test was no problem, as I recall I did the entire 5 minutes with no errors. Paul
Yeah, I'd like to see the exams from 1959-1960 because my memory is a bit sketchy. Don't remember any multiple choice and remember having to draw and analyze some circuits, oscillators, full wave PS, etc. My General code test was a copy of a maritime message with latitudes/longitudes and nothing that resembled a QSO.
Here, I think multiple-choice exams came in some time in the 80s (or possibly late 70s). I expect the main drive was the expense of getting the old essay-style papers marked...
I skipped some of this thread, but I have the MFJ Code Tutor and was working with that. however, lately I have really been enjoying an iPhone app called "Morse Toad". Simple, effective, progressive. Don't let the screens bother you, they could have been better
I think that is a good site for someone in the 12 to 15 WPM to increase speed. There are others but that is a nice site.
Is there value to taking a break? I've been at this for a month now, and I'm starting to feel burned out. I copied a practice qso this morning, and came to the sad realization that I can't tell a B from 6, an H from a 5, a 1 from a J and at times an S from anything. Very frustrating! I thought I was doing fine on the ARRL 20wpm files, so I went to 25; but I feel I regressed and am now doing worse. Ugh! I know I still haven't gotten out of the habit of counting, but I just can't hear a difference at 25, let alone faster. It all just starts to blur together. I can "hear" QTH and RIG and THE, but callsigns are too random to hear them as a word.
