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![]() "Scott Dorsey" wrote in message ... Richard Knoppow wrote: Perhaps this is the wrong place to ask but I am assuming that most fans of boatanchor stuff are also interested in history. I was recently looking over the _Radio Service Bulletins_ published on the FCC site. These were originally published by the Federal Radio Commission, the predecessor to the FCC and date from the early 1920's to about 1930. In about a 1928 bulletin the requirements for the commercial licenses of the time are mentioned. At that time there was no differentiation between phone and telegraph licenses but there were several grades of license. The code requirement for the top grades was (are you ready?) continental code: 30 WPM five letter code groups AND American Morse: 25 WPM plain text. I wonder how many followers of this group could pass that now. What I am curious about is what sort of theory test went along with this code test. The top license, called something like the Extra Commercial, required at least 18 months actual experience within the previous two years and allowed the holder to be the primary operator of any kind of commercial station. I don't know when the FRC or FCC changed the classification of licenses, actually, I think they modified them several times, but its possible that someone out there may actually have held one of these licenses or its later equivalent. If the FCC offered the test, then somebody has to have issued a cramming manual for the test. I'd bet that National Technical Schools had such a thing. A letter to them might turn something up in the archives. I didn't take the First Phone until the seventies, but when I took it, I answered a couple questions oddly and got called in after the test to give oral explanations. They were apparently satisfactory because I passed. Could you imagine doing that today? --scott A quick look at a 1928 QST shows at least four schools advertising preparation for commercial licenses plus an ad for the well known Nilson and Hornung book. It might be difficult to track down the paperwork from the schools although I have a copy of N&H from this period. It would be interesting to know just what a candidate actually faced when taking the test. Both my original ham license and commercial license tests were taken at the FCC offices in the downtown L.A. federal building. I think I was the only candidate both times. Code first for the ham license, sending and then receiving. I had trained myself well beyond the code requirment but it was still a bit nervous time. Both tests were multiple choice and I think I remember schematics requiring some sort of completion but not sure of that. I have a feeling the 1930's tests were a lot harder. I know the reason commercials were required to know both continental and American morse: traffic to commercial land stations was still sent using wire circuits from the traffic centers. I once taught myself American morse and had qso's with a retired railroad telegrapher. Lost it now and beside it would be different on a sounder. -- -- Richard Knoppow Los Angeles, CA, USA |
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