Please indulge me one more tidbit. Of off topic blather.... The object of the Morse test is to demonstrate the ability to receive Morse at 5 WPM, and then demonstrate comprehension. Taking 45 minutes to translate dots and dashes into text does not constitute the ability to receive Morse at 5WPM.
In our VE sessions we announce in advance of the test that copying dots and dashes is not permitted. Other VE teams may allow this but this team does not. Regarding the comment to the effect "I can repair equipment but not operate it." I have been there myself. I remained a tech for nearly 10 years and had a lot of fun building repeaters, hanging antennas and experimenting. Getting HF privilages does not immediately give you acceptance on the low bands. There is a rite of passage. A good example would be the old men at the coffee shop at a table to themselves. You don't just grab a chair and join them. If you are careful and do a lot of listening, you might be invited to join in. Maybe not the best way to go about it, but this is the way it is. SSB (Now back to our regularly scheduled programming)... | Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Repeater-Builder/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/