On Jan 26, 6:44 pm, wrote:
On Jan 25, 7:52?pm, Cecil Moore wrote:

wrote:
Just getting to
the exam could be a major journey, depending on where you lived.
Come to think of it - my parents drove me to the Houston
FCC office for my Novice exam so at that time the distance
limit was still 125 miles. A year later, when my Novice
expired, I was eligible to take the Conditional by mail
because the distance limit had been reduced to 75 miles.
I have lost track of exactly when I got those licenses
but that knowledge should help to bracket the dates.Here's an exact date, Cecil:

June 10, 1954

On that date, the "Conditional distance" was reduced from 125 miles to
75 miles "air-line" from a quarterly examining point.

Also on that date, FCC stopped giving routine Novice and Technician
exams at FCC exam sessions, and instead gave the job to volunteer
examiners. After that date, Novice and Technician exams wouyld be done
by mail regardless of distance from and FCC exam point.

That resolves an ongoing bit of confusion on my part. I haven't been
able to remember if I took my Novice exam in 1953 or 1954. What I do
remember is that I took the exam during a Thanksgiving break at the
FCC office in the Philly custom house and that there was no other way
for me to take the test. Based on your June 10 '54 date I must have
taken the test in the fall of '53 when I was a high school
sophomore.


In those days there were three FCC offices in Texas - Houston, Dallas
and Beaumont. Houston and Dallas gave exams on a weekly schedule, while
Beaumont was a sub-office that.gave exams by appointment. Exams were
also given four times a year in San Antonio.

Of course, in Texas, it's not at all difficult to be more than 75 miles
from all four of those offices.

The reason cited for the changes was that the FCC exam sessions were
overloaded with amateurs taking the exams, and the FCC had almost
overrun its 1953 budget for giving exams. In those days there were no
license fees to defray the cost.

That's very strange. There were very few ham tests given on the days
when I took my Novice exam and again when I took my General exam a
year later, the exam room was overloaded with guys taking commercial
exams on both occasions. I was the *only * ham in the room when I took
my General vs. a couple dozen others. The examiner opened the office
with a question "is there anybody taking a ham radio license test
today?" and I raised my hand. "OK, let's get you outta here." Being
the only ham in a room full of grumbling commercial guys was a bit
unnerving . . sorta like "OK kid just do it and hit the road."

I've taken three ham tests and one commercial license test in '53, '54
nd '68. All the exams were given by FCC examiners at the Philly office
and none of them cost me a dime.

I swapped my original callsign for my current callsign at the FCC
office in Gettysburg in '77. It's not a "vanity" callsign and it was
also a freebie. I have yet to be be involved with a volunteer examiner
or pay the FCC for anything. Cheap, cheap . . !

This overload happened even though the FCC had stopped giving the
Advanced exam 18 months earlier (end of 1952) and there were few
applicants for the Extra because that license did not convey any
additional operating privileges. Also, the "retest if you move closer"
rule had been dropped in 1952, yet the FCC exam sessions were brusting
at the seems..

Thanks again, Jim.You're welcome, Cecil. Hope that helps pin down the date.

---

btw, in those days the FCC did not give credit for license exam
elements previously passed unless they were passed in front of an FCC
examiner. If a Novice who had gotten the license by mail went for the
Technician, s/he had to do the 5 wpm code again. If a by-mail
Technician went for the General or Conditional, s/he had to do the
written exam again even though, back then, all three of those license
classes used the same written test.

73 de Jim, N2EY

w3rv