Ron Hardin wrote:
clifto wrote:
Ron Hardin wrote:
You could pass any written test by memorizing the ARRL's License
Manual but code was apparently the killer for grownups.

Not the ARRL manual; it was that guy whose name I can't remember, who
published guides made up by paying testees to remember questions and
multiple-guess answers just after leaving the testing sessions.

No, the License Manual I think was from the ARRL. It's what
everybody used, and the questions matched, anyway I don't remember
any surprises.

dxAce correctly recalled Dick Bash. It was the Bash guides that actually
matched the real test questions on the exams. The ARRL manuals made up
their own questions that were very similar and gave a person adequate
practice to handle the test; the difference was that you could memorize
the answers to the Bash questions and pass the test without understanding
the material. That is, if the answer to the Bash question about resonant
frequency was "(c) 1.4 MHz", then the answer to the actual test question
would also be (c), 1.4 MHz.

It was said at that time that the reason the FCC dumbed the test down
by orders of magnitude was directly and mostly related to the Bash
guides. That, and the fact that amateur radio was acquiring General
Class licensees who couldn't explain how a flashlight worked or tune
a transmitter, made the Bash guides a source of a lot of resentment
among amateurs.

--
"The Democrats are all over this. Democratic strategists feel John Kerry's
war record means he can beat Bush. They say when it comes down to it, voters
will always vote for a war hero over someone who tried to get out of the war.
I'll be sure to mention that to Bob Dole when I see him." -- Jay Leno