RadioBanter - View Single Post

AJ Lake · September 23rd 08, 06:53 AM posted to rec.radio.amateur.homebrew

wrote:

Consider all the testing that doctors and lawyers go through to get
their licenses. Yet there are still some doctors and lawyers who are
"bad apples".

Exactly. Passing a license test does not prevent bad behavior.

Most of all, note that the bad behavior you cite was all on voice, not
CW/Morse Code. The bad apples may have passed a code test at one time
or another, but they weren't *using* the mode!

Exactly. Passing a code test does not prevent bad behavior.

The exam procedure varied over time, and by the mid-1950s the person
giving both code and written tests had to be an FCC licensed amateur
or commercial operator. But it was all on the honor system.

Not quite correct. I suppose even historians get it wrong sometimes.
Course I knew the mail order license procedure pretty well since I did
it twice, once for Novice and again for Tech.

The following could give the mail order code test:
An Extra, Advanced, or General Class licensee, or
a Commercial Radiotelegraph Operators licensee, or
a Government employee of a manually operated radio telegraph station.

And as I said before *any* adult (at least 21 then) licensed or not
could give the written exam.

What Bash did was to ask people leaving the exam sessions to recall
whatever they could about the questions.

Another piece of history I lived. I used Bash for my Advanced.

Then budget cuts in the early 1980s forced FCC to
create the VE system, and the Q&A became public.
Which put Bash out of business.

Interesting how what was called cheating then is now a legit exam...

Now, why were hams so well-behaved compared to cbers,

Because the hams had to ID? If people know who you are many act
better. And if they didn't ID no one would talk to them. Some did
bootleg though with false calls. I'll admit to bootlegging on CW
before my Novice ticket came. My buddies name was Kent, so I used
K7ENT. It wasn't issued yet so no harm no foul...