"Dee Flint" wrote


Wasn't it the council of VECs who made that decision? I believe that Part 97
does not specify how the 5wpm test is to be administered.


I think you're correct Dee. The FCC rules are silent on the form of actual
examination:

§97.503 Element standards.

(a) A telegraphy examination must be sufficient to prove that the examinee has
the ability to send correctly by hand and to receive correctly by ear texts in
the international Morse code at not less than the prescribed speed, using all
the letters of the alphabet, numerals 0-9, period, comma, question mark, slant
mark and prosigns AR, BT and SK.
Element 1: 5 words per minute.

Interestingly, the NCVEC has chosen to ignore the "ability to send correctly by
hand" clause of the rules.

73, de Hans, K0HB
--
Come sit by the fire and warm your bones. Let's enjoy a warm bracing drink and a
few tales. "The wind was picking up, clouds were rolling in, my hands were numb,
nose was running, I had to pee, and I was thinking of heading for the dock
when..."