"N2EY" wrote in message
...
In article , "Jim Hampton"
writes:

No, Mopar, the VEs charge. It used to be free at the FCC, but, for me at
least, that meant a 60 mile trip (120 miles round trip) to the FCC in
Buffalo, NY, and one minute of perfect copy at 20 words per minute.

It was free at the FCC until 1963 or 1964, when they began charging for
exams
(except Novice). That continued into the mid 1970s. The fee for an exam
started
out at $4 and went up to $9.

Now $9 doesn't sound like a lot today but back circa 1970 it was a lot of
lawns
cut or papers delivered if you were a kid. Even if you were an adult it
could
be a few hours' net pay. $10,000/yr was a good income back then, which
works
out to about $5/hour. Adjust that for inflation and today's VE fees are
cheap.

As AA2QA points out, though, the big expense and effort for many hams
wasn't
the exam itself but getting there. A kid in school had to wait for summer
and
working folk had to take at least a half day off 'cause the exams were on
weekday mornings. No do-overs or CSCEs, either, if you failed by even one
question, or were one letter short of the required copy, you could not
retest
for 30 days.

I was lucky; Upper Darby to the Philly Custom House was just a subway ride
with
a short walk at each end. For a kid in Harrisburg, Scranton or South
Jersey it
was a big deal just to get there.

The end result, though, was that most hams went to the exams extremely
overprepared. Wasn't worth taking a chance on failing.

73 de Jim, N2EY


But you know Jim even if they did prepare, A LOT FAILED, it was really an
exercise in who could overcome the nerves.

I had to take a 90 mile train ride to and from to take my test. I was 13 at
the time, and my mother came along. We spent the night at my aunt and
uncles.

Years later I realized it was the 'original incentive licensing'. He stern
words were " You better pass this thing the first time, we ain't doing this
again". I nicknamed her 'Old Sarge'...but never to her face.. hi. Sure do
miss her.

Dan/W4NTI