Is the following a good example of a QSO for the 5 WPM morse code exam or are abbreviations and other cyptic cw terms used? (like THX for thanks, ANT for antenna, or HW for how). If they stretch it out like the following qso, the exam can be pretty easy to fumble through, filling in the letters that you miss for 1 minute solid copy. I would appreciate any comments.
VVV VVV KZ7SK/8 DE KD2QXU = R AND THANKS JOAN. ANTENNA IS BEAM 37 FEET UP. RIG IS HEATHKIT SB1400 AND RUNS 230 WATTS. I LIVE IN ROCHESTER, NEW YORK. NAME IS CURT. RST IS 569. HOW COPY? KZ7SK/8 DE KD2QXU + *
This is roughly the format of how I remember the ARRL code tests back in the early 1990's.
There were a series of VVV VVV
before the actual code tests.
I'm pretty sure there were prosigns and stuff like /, BK, BT, ?, 73, period and comma. Also the weather was often included. Snowy, rainy, clear, cloudy and also the temperature.
Also antenna height and type were included in the tests . "Ant is dipole up 50 feet" (Or something like that)
I don't recall if 'thanks' was abbreviated to thx or tks.
Also I believe other abbreviations might have been used to, like "So hw?" or So hw cpy?"
It's been 28 and 29 years since I took all three code tests 5 wpm, 13 wpm and 20 wpm. But that's roughly how I remember them.
The VE team would play a cassette running five minutes and you had to get a certain number of characters in one minute perfectly or get 7 out of 10 questions correctly to pass.