In article , "Dee D. Flint"
writes:

"N2EY" wrote in message
. com...
Back before restructuring, the ham who wasn't interested in
phone/image had no reason to get an Advanced. And the ham who wasn't
interested in CW/data had relatively little reason to get an Extra.

73 de Jim, N2EY

Except that I found very early on that a lot of the more interesting DX
tended to be in what are the Extra subbands in the US. So I set my sights
on getting the Extra for that reason.

Of course! Those parts could also be very productive in contests because of the
reduced crowding,

My point was simply that the Advanced did not give any more CW/data privileges
- the incentive was all 'phone.

Some folks make a big deal about how "tough", "theoretical" and "mathematical"
the old Advanced written was. Supposedly tougher than the Extra, yada yada
yada.

But back in 1968, when I was at the FCC office for the General, the examiner
said "why not try the Advanced while you're here?" (Could not do Extra because
back then it had a 2 year experience requirement).

So I took it and passed easily even though I had not studied for it at all. I
was 14 and it was the summer between 8th and 9th grades. Not a big deal even
then because I knew of 12 year old Extras back then.

73 de Jim, N2EY