In article , "Phil Kane"
writes:

On 16 Sep 2003 00:19:14 GMT, N2EY wrote:

The old code test worked like this:

A rather accurate description of how license tests should be
run.....

Thanks!

You were allowed to bring a mill for receiving and speed key for sending,
but you'd better be well-prepared if you showed up with same.

No mill was allowed for amateur tests - all copy was by hand.

I'll take your word for it, Phil. Were mills permitted if a person was
disabled? Perhaps that's the source of the stories I heard.

A
mill was allowed only for the First RadioTelegraph (Commercial) 25
WPM plain language test - not even for the 20 WPM code group test.

Yet oddly enough, the US Navy was very big on copy by typewriter.

Speed keys or later on electronic keyers were allowed only if they
could be hooked up to the straight key terminals (with about 67 V
"B+" on them).

And be sure the thing is battery powered or bring an extension cord.

Only once in all the years did I see anyone with a
bug who used that special "spring" for connection to the body of a
J-38 type straight key.

The term is "wedge".

Most of us just used the straight key.

I sadly do not expect the FCC to get back into the exam business,
but there is nothing stopping them for requiring the VEC/VEs to run
the tests like they used to be run.

All it takes is commitment.

And some rules changes.

Didja know that the FISTS petition to the FCC calls for an end to "instant"
retests? It proposes that if an element is failed, the person cannot be
retested on that element until the next day.

73 de Jim, N2EY