wrote in message
...
Thanks for the replies guys. I did go in there cold this morning, and
flubbed the dub for General. What was good about 10 years ago isn't
good enough today. I was surprised by all the questions about
radiation protection, some digital questions, plus probably a few that
I simply forgot. Can't say I'm too disappointed as what I feel I
missed was all brand new to me (wish I could have seen which questions
I missed, but guess that is verboten). As long as I'm studying, guess
I'll practice the code again too. CW was neat, though I haven't
touched a key in over seven years and couldn't copy today if I tried.
(I'm told that code comes back rather quickly--is that so?) Another
surprise was the $12 to take the test. Wasn't it about $3 or so 10
years ago? Anyway the interest level has gone back up, so I'll be
back.

Cheers.

Ron KE6OJD

Hello, Ron

Dee had an excellent answer concerning theory. The reality is that if you
have a good grasp of theory, you can miss a lot of the other stuff (like
band edges) and still pass quite handily.

Code does come back; a lot has to do with what speed you obtained in the
past. I've seen it posted (but am not sure, myself) that if you got past 10
or 12 words per minute in the past, you'll be rusty - but it comes back
quickly. I had, in the past, memorized the land-line morse and even used
it; however, I was using a mental look-up table for the characters that were
different. I have totally forgotten it (with the exception of the letters
"c" and "q" LOL). First licensed as a novice in 1962, I obtained my extra
and commercial telegraph (2nd class) in 1966. In 1967 I copied, without any
errors, 40 words per minute cw on a typewriter. My last cw contact was
either late 1969 or early 1970, just before I left the service. I let my
licenses expire.

I decided to get my amateur license back in 1993. I found out when and
where the test was given (the Rochester Amateur Radio Association starts in
the fall and ends sometime around May or June, I'm not sure) about 5 hours
before the test. I had neither sent nor received Morse in well over twenty
years. I passed my extra. It wasn't pretty (likely no more than 15 to 20
characters/numbers in a row), but was enough to answer the questions. After
that, I wrote some software to send and receive Morse. Not wishing to debug
at 15 or 20 words per minute, the writing and debugging (and trying) the
software got me up a bit. I'm not back to 50 over the air and perfect copy
at 40, but would likely have little trouble at 30. Regardless, if you have
copied cw before, it will come back. More rapidly if you had gotten to 12
words per minute or higher. If you still know all the
letter/number/prosigns/punctuation, I can assure you it will come back quite
quickly.

Best regards from Rochester, NY
Jim




---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.692 / Virus Database: 453 - Release Date: 5/28/04