I took my first FCC exam in 1960 for the General (and did not pass the CW exam). This was in Detroit in an old office building with austere gov't issue "everything", including the examiners. The CW test was the old five random character test of which 1-minute must be perfect copy.
Many years later (1982) I re-took the General exam at the FCC office in Anchorage, AK. This time the CW test was ten multiple choice questions about the clear-text CW that was sent. One only needed to pass 7 questions. I passed. I took the Advanced a month later with ease (I had passed the Second Class Radiotelephone in 1971 so the General was easy). In 2000 I took my Extra before my local VE and it was only the written test as they had lowered the CW requirement to 13wpm. I joke that I have "the Slow-Code Extra". The FCC examining was definitely harder in my estimation. There are better technical questions on the newer exams, though. The Second Class was technically way above extra. Glad I took it when questions were still about vacuum tubes. 73, Ed - KL7UW 1958 Novice - KN8MWA 1959 Technician - K8MWA 1971 2nd Class Radiotelephone 1981 Radar Endorsement 1982 General, Advanced - AL7EB 2000 Extra - KL7UW ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html