Jim,
I had a 2nd class radiotelegraph license back in 1967. One needed to be 21
(I was still a teenager) plus have sufficient service time to qualify for
the 1st (I forget, but it seems it was one year at sea running
communications under the supervision of a 1st telegraph). The second was 20
words per minute and the 1st was 25 words per minute. From what I have
heard, the 25 was sufficient to get you a not too good paying job on the
slow side circuits whilst you had to be 100% copy and reliable at 30 to get
the good jobs on the main circuits. Of course, this would pre-date 1967 by
quite a few years
From what I recall, back in the 60s you tended to hear the newcomers at 5 to
10 words per minute, a minor number in the 13 to 20 range, a number in the
30 word per minute range, and a surprising number in the 40 plus word per
minute range. I did run into one guy that I had a problem with until he
realized I wasn't the guy he was used to hearing at KG6NAC and finally
slowed down to about 50 (which was really pushing limits for me at that
time). I originally called cq at about 40 to 45 and he responded at around
60. Fortunately, I got most of his call but that was a bit much.
73 from Rochester, NY
Jim AA2QA
"N2EY" wrote in message
...
In article , Jack Twilley
writes:
I can understand why Novice and Technician Plus required five words
per minute -- the treaty and all -- but why did General require
thirteen words per minute and Amateur Extra twenty words per minute?
Is there a real reason?
12 to 13 wpm is generally agreed to be above the speed where things such
as
"counting dits" work for most people. It's the beginning of the skills
which
take one to higher speeds
20 wpm derives from the old 1923-24 "Amateur Extra First Class" which
chose 20
as double the old 10 wpm standard. It was reintroduced in 1951 when the
current
Amateur Extra class was created.
Both speeds are far below those required of experienced professional Morse
operators.
73 de Jim, N2EY
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