There was a time not too long ago when, by late November, flea market reservations were already far underway for the next year's Hamvention.  I notice that the Hamvention.Org site still displays the date's of the 2008 event and has not been updated in six months.

Are current FCC Radiotelegraph Operator Licenses still issued in certificate form or, as with other FCC licenses, only in card form?  Thanks for any responses.

I use a 20-watt Ten Tec Argonaut V feeding a Buddipole short dipole on my apartment balcony.  Works great, particularly on cw and PSK31.  Doesn't interfere with anything.

In the 1970s, the FCC sought to increase the number of Amateur license classes to seven. It issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to establish three grades of VHF-UHF licenses (Communicator-Technician-Experimenter) and three grades of HF licenses (Novice-General-Advanced).  There were two entry licenses (Communicator and Novice) and each amateur could hold two licenses, one from each chain, at the same time.  Amateur Extra was an over-arching license that conveyed all privileges.  I required the holder to pass additional code and theory exams after holding both the Experimenter and the Advanced licenses.

The advantage of a single paddle key is that, if you learned to key in the era before iambic keyers, you can keep using the single paddle key and don't have to re-learn a skill.  If you are just learning to use a key and keyer for the first time today, the only sensible course of action is to use a double paddle key.  

A calulator might possibly enable you to save five minutes on the examination.  Otherwise, a pencil is perfectly sufficient.

Yes.  Example:  a ham can build his own equipment.

SWL377,

Just curious--what did the "most of the stuff on the exam [that] was not that useful" consist of?  A (very) basic knowledge of electronics and radio?  A basic knowledge of FCC rules?

Neil N3DF

...and numbers and punctuation counted as 2 characters each.

Neil N3DF

When I was a ham in high school in the the 1960s, the NYC area had Arrow, Barry, two Harrison stores, a Heathkit store and several Lafayette Radio stores (which carried a full line of ham gear).  

Prior to construction of the World Trade Center, that area was a gold mine of surplus electronics useful for conversion or building projects.

Neil N3DF

I received my current call in 3-land but now live in Florida.  Every now and then, someone on HF SSB suggests that I should sign "N3DF portable 4."  However, my understanding is that "portable" means "temporary base station" and that "N3DF" is my call at my currently-licensed permanent station address.

Neil N3DF
Miami

Jim,

When I got my licenses in the 1960s, the General only required one written exam and, prior to 1967, the Amateur Extra only required two.

Neil N3DF

Alan,

The FCC stopped requiring a code sending test for any class of amateur radio license in 1977.  It found that "over 99 percent" of applicants passing the code receiving test also passed the code sending test.  In addition, without the sending test complete amateur radio license examinations (code receiving test plus written exam) could be given by FCC clerical personnel (who didn't have to know code) rather than by higher-paid field engineering personnel.

Neil N3DF

Alan,

The FCC stopped requiring the drawing of schematic diagrams for the General examination in 1960.  The stated reason was so speed up the grading of examinations.

Neil N3DF

To those who passed the Amateur Extra exams before FCC officers:  do you still have the 7x9 "diploma form" Amateur Extra license that was issued on request by an FCC field office?  Do you currently have it on display?  I do--in fact it's all I have on display on the wall next to my station, along with DXCC and my ARRL life member plaque.

--Neil N3DF