robert casey wrote in
hlink.net:



How about a question like this:

"A manufacturer guarantees his crystals to be within .01% of the
marked frequency, when used in the recommended circuit at 20
degrees C. The crystals have a negative temperature coefficient of
50 parts per million per degree C.




Would you put that question in an Amateur Radio test today?

Well, you could. You'd have to pick the correct answer from those
offered in the multiple choice. But you could work "backwards" with
each choice to find the one that fits right.

Sure you could put it in. But as one of a limited number of
questions in a test, it falls at the bottom of the relevency scale.


There are ways to cheat almost any system. Do you know of any
actual cheating under the old system?

Oh, there were jokes to the effect that for an extra fee, you were
guaranteed to pass...

I'd heard a little bit of that kind of stuff too.

There have been documented
cases of suspected cheating under the VEC system, where the FCC
called in hams who then flunked the retest.

I imagine that some of those recalled may have passed their
retests....


Good, glad they were caught. One of the interesting things
about
people when they get to be curmudgeons is that they use present day
exposures and punishments as some sort of evidence of corruption as
compared with the good old days, when there was apparently no
corruption because there wasn't any expose's of the wicked.

The FCC probably weighed the downsides of a cheater escaping
undetected and decided that such a cheater would not degrade the
quality or safety of the amateur service that much. Unlike say a
cheater "passing" state medical board exams to become a licensed
medical doctor. You just have to do enough to limit it to a level
that doesn't make testing look like a joke.


Agreed. If a cheater were to keep their nose clean and operate
properly, they would appear to everyone as just another good ham.

Of course, those with a tendency to cheat tend to expose themselves
in the end.Probably part of the personality, and general stupidity that
cheaters have in common.

- 73 de Mike KB3EIA -