Any particular reason DXpeditions seem to prefer Extra frequencies?

[W2IRT]

Whatever you do, please make sure that you thoroughly understand the rules and regulations, the principles of station building and operating practices for all modes. Take the time to study those sections and understand them inside and out. The more esoteric stuff is  fair game to memorize; just knowing what it is and where to look it up may help you down the road in your hamming career...or it may not.

The trick is, when starting the process, you'll see a number of questions in the pool that are similar and are asking essentially the same thing. Memorize one key word or number in the question. "Oh, the question on ERP, the one that has 350 in it, the answer is the one that has 4 in it" (that example is made up out of my head, not a real Q/A pair). It then becomes a matter of pattern recognition after a few rounds of practice.

[KA3NRX]

For those that jumped on my comments, I am not whining or complaining.  The Extra questions are difficult.  This is kind of obvious or we would see more than 15% of hams with Extra tickets.

If Grenada is going into the General portion of 20 meters great!  I never said they wouldn't, I couldn't find anything on their site stating any frequency plans, I just noticed what they were in fact doing and asked.  Come on, give me a break! 

I will be memorizing most of the Extra questions.  This is what I did with a lot of the General questions.  But there are over 750 questions and most of them are things about which I have no knowledge.  That is a lot of memorizing.  AGAIN, I am not whining or griping.  It is what it is.  Just don't try to tell me it is "easy".

Now, back to the book.

Sam...No one is accusing you of whining....and today compared to 20 years ago, it is easy....Back then you had to take the advanced class written exam, then a written exam for the X, plus the code test.....That advanced class exam was excrutiatingly painfully difficult, especially for a non-technical 23 year old person (at the time) like me....50 questions for that, and 40 for the extra written.....so it IS easier now, especially for those who have/do/did whine about having to learn morse, which is a whole other issue for another day..You may not agree, but if you were at it then, you just might now.....At one time I was content to go to the grave with the Gen Class....three years into it with a taste of DXing, I wanted more.....and I beat the odds......You will too.....Hit the books....the expeditions are waiting for you....

V
KA3NRX

[W9KDX]

Most of the questions in the Extra pool are memorization types. These include FCC regulations, various digital mode procedures, satellite procedures, SSTV standards, ATV standards, EME procedures.

And as I said, memorizing 750+ questions is far from "easy".

Thanks

[WW3QB]

That advanced class exam was excrutiatingly painfully difficult

My experience was very different, but I was (and still am) a technical nerd. I passed the Advanced in 1974 at age 15. I had the ARRL license manual, in which 14 pages of the 9.5 x 6.5 inch booklet was devoted to the Advanced test (I have a copy). That is all I needed to pass. The test was much easier than the 9th grade tests I was taking then.

[W7ETA]

I avoid having to memorize details that do not have a relationship with how something works. 

I lumped a few questions together that seemed to be related that I just did not understand.

I inventoried what letter the correct answer was and found the letter that was more likely to be correct than incorrect for all of those questions.

One thing that has helped me to understand more of my hobby was to buy an ARRL HandBook from the late 50s, when circuits were based upon tubes.  For me, the subject content in most of the book was easier to understand than any of the recent handbooks.

Having to memorize 750 answers and questions seems like a daunting task.  Perhaps someone who has recently passed the Extra exam can offer suggestions, based upon what they did, on how to break this task into more manageable segments?

Best Wishes from Tucson
Bob

[W5DQ]

I'm sorry, but you are not even close.  I have been studying the Extra questions for 2 months solid and a vast majority are beyond difficult.  I got 100% on my General and Tech, have been involved with ham radio since the 1960s, and I have 3 graduate degrees with a 3.9 GPA.  I know how to study, but for someone without an electronics degree and years of experience, Extra is a major effort.  If it were so easy, we would have way more than 15% of the hams.

And you are all right, it is for fun.  If the DXpeditions want to ignore General class, I will just ignore them.

Not that anyone gives a rat's patootie, but IMHO this is really a moot point given that 8-10 year old kids can pass Extra first time out. Yes the Extra test is more involved than the 'gimme' Technician ticket but that's the name of the game. Maybe the fact that years ago 'a person had 1 year to upgrade with Novice ticket and also were required to have 2 years in the driver's seat with a a lesser ticket before allowed to test for Extra' wasn't such a BAD idea after all, was it Isn't experience GRAND!

'PLD - Keep plugging along and it will come to you and then like was mentioned, a whole new world of DX'ing will open to you. When you think you're close to being ready, I'd suggest you take the test. It will give you a checkpoint on what you still need to focus on if you don't pass. Remember they don't post scores on the license so 100% passing is just as good as 78% passing (or whatever is required nowadays).

Good Luck on your studies.

Gene W5DQ

[KA3NRX]

Here's a tid bit that some of you old timers might remember....My friend from college took both the technician and general class way back in the late 70s (tech in 78 and the Gen in 79)..when he was a pre-teen....He told me that he acutally had to show the test procter his work when it came to figuring out fomulas and calculations.....and also had to demostrate proficiency in sending code...not just receiving (which for some you out there is bad enough).....and then I look at how it is today.....There is no comparison....I am not saying its right or wrong, but there is no comparison....

V
KA3NRX

[KD6KWZ]

I remember a piece in an old Electronics Illustrated around 1971 about UK Amateurs. The code requirements was like 20 wpm. The actual test sounded killer, like draw a schematic for a transmitter for the 80 meter band, and describe what features it has to reduce RFI! They had a no code license version, but still with rough questions, with privileges only above 50 MHz.

I don't know if those tests in the UK are as rough now, but wow!

[CBISBACK]

...Course since it is very easy now to upgrade to Extra, ...

I'm sorry, but you are not even close.  I have been studying the Extra questions for 2 months solid and a vast majority are beyond difficult.  I got 100% on my General and Tech, have been involved with ham radio since the 1960s, and I have 3 graduate degrees with a 3.9 GPA.  I know how to study, but for someone without an electronics degree and years of experience, Extra is a major effort.  If it were so easy, we would have way more than 15% of the hams.

And you are all right, it is for fun.  If the DXpeditions want to ignore General class, I will just ignore them.

This is a joke right?  They publish the answers.  If you can't pass the Extra test you don't belong on the air, at all.

[W9KDX]

This is a joke right?  They publish the answers.  If you can't pass the Extra test you don't belong on the air, at all.

Great helpful response!  What insight!  You are truly right.  I won't even try the test, I am just too stupid to even listen to the radio.  Why look at me, I didn't even know that CBISBACK was an Extra class license call sign!!  I'll mail my ticket back to the FCC tonight.

Much thanks.

[KB4MB]

I will be memorizing most of the Extra questions.  This is what I did with a lot of the General questions.  But there are over 750 questions and most of them are things about which I have no knowledge.  That is a lot of memorizing.  AGAIN, I am not whining or griping.  It is what it is.  Just don't try to tell me it is "easy".

Of course this is a slight threadjack here, but I just want to say to Sam - DON'T MEMORIZE THE ANSWERS!  We have a guy in our radio club that when we were struggling for ideas for a club topic, he asked maybe one of us "Old Timers" can explain what split is, and how to do it.  He didn't know, it befuddled him.  Me and the other OT were a bit taken a back.  When I got home I checked - he was an Extra.  Simple radio theory that a Tech should know, he doesn't.  Nothing against the guy - but that is because he memorized the answers, and never actually READ and understood the questions.

It took me about 3 months of studying the Extra book to feel prepared enough to pass the Extra.  I didn't use a calculator - did rough figures in my head.  But the Extra test is something that should be studied for the love of the craft, in my opinion.  I took it because I wanted more space on 40m, but I also took it so I could learn more about radio.  I read the book, learned the concepts.  If they changed the questions on me, I still would have been able to pass, because I learned the material, not the questions.  There is no rush - you are on HF already... take the time and enjoy the process.

[N3QE]

This is a joke right?  They publish the answers.  If you can't pass the Extra test you don't belong on the air, at all.

Even back in the era of the Bash Books, many folks who paid for the Bash Books struggled to get to General, Advanced, Extra passing scores on the written element.

Now I will admit that it's not quite the same way it was 30+ years ago before VEC. I personally feel that the way things now is better (anyone can download the answer key off the internet instead of knowing the right guys and paying for a purloined Bash Book).

But except for "natural crammers" the existence of an answer key never was a guarantee of passing.

Thinking back to the days of the real FCC tests... There may have been a correlation between the type of person who would tend to buy a Bash Book, vs those who would try to pass the test through actual knowledge, that would imply a reduction in the passing percentage of Bash Book owners. Just sayin' :-)

I was told at one point in the 70's, that passing rate for the novice written element was high 70%, and for the other higher written elements it went down, reaching about 25-30% for the Extra written element. I'm not a VEC but I'm told that passing rates today are nowhere near 100%...

[W9KDX]

I will be memorizing most of the Extra questions.  This is what I did with a lot of the General questions.  But there are over 750 questions and most of them are things about which I have no knowledge.  That is a lot of memorizing.  AGAIN, I am not whining or griping.  It is what it is.  Just don't try to tell me it is "easy".

Of course this is a slight threadjack here, but I just want to say to Sam - DON'T MEMORIZE THE ANSWERS!  We have a guy in our radio club that when we were struggling for ideas for a club topic, he asked maybe one of us "Old Timers" can explain what split is, and how to do it.  He didn't know, it befuddled him.  Me and the other OT were a bit taken a back.  When I got home I checked - he was an Extra.  Simple radio theory that a Tech should know, he doesn't.  Nothing against the guy - but that is because he memorized the answers, and never actually READ and understood the questions.

It took me about 3 months of studying the Extra book to feel prepared enough to pass the Extra.  I didn't use a calculator - did rough figures in my head.  But the Extra test is something that should be studied for the love of the craft, in my opinion.  I took it because I wanted more space on 40m, but I also took it so I could learn more about radio.  I read the book, learned the concepts.  If they changed the questions on me, I still would have been able to pass, because I learned the material, not the questions.  There is no rush - you are on HF already... take the time and enjoy the process.

Thanks,  I am re-reading the book as well as memorizing the answers.  Unlike the General book which had little to do with the questions, Extra study actually has some useful information.

Unfortunately, there is a bit of a rush as the entire question pool changes this June, but I will most likely have enough time.

In any event, my original questions were answered, and I don't want to create any more controversy on whether the Extra exam should be easy for everyone.

Thanks again.

[W7ETA]

I look forward to seeing a post from you about passing your Extra test Sam

73
Bob

[G3RZP]

Back in the 60's the UK licence involved a 12 wpm CW test and a technical exam in two parts. Part 1 was licensing regs: Part 2 was things like Ohm's law, antennas and feeders, transmitter and receiver circuits - in my case I remember, draw the circuit of a suitable VFO for an amateur transmitter on the 1.8 MHz band. It was pretty well equivalent to the the US General Class. I took and passed the written part on my 14th birthday: some 15 years later, my XYL passed when she was 16. Then in 1964 or 5, we had the equivalent of the Technician introduced with no CW requirement.  Now it's a progressive thing.

One problem I've noted with the Extra class licence exams are the questions where the answer they want is not totally correct. Do they still have one where resonance is defined as XL = XC?

Having had to do CW, on the now rare occasions that I do get on, I prefer CW. But for a new country, you do what it takes.....