[TenTec] OT: First Class Radiotelegraph license

[Kevin Purcell]

The problem with getting to First Class is you need time on the air  
using CW. And that doesn't happen any more what with GMDSS.

<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ham-Radio-History/message/10498? 
threaded=1&var=1&l=1>

Except at the "new" 500kHz coast stations.

<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ham-Radio-History/message/10671? 
threaded=1&var=1>

> Ah, but to sit the exam for the First Class Radiotelegraph license  
> one must be
> able to demonstrate experience as a commercial Morse operator  
> aboard ship or at
> a coast station. The places where such experience can be obtained  
> are indeed
> thin upon the ground these days. As the US Federal Communications  
> Commission
> recently ruled, amateur and military experience doesn't count.
>
> But one year after obtaining your coast station license and putting  
> your station
> into operation, or by being associated with the station of another  
> licensee, you
> will be qualified to take the exam for the First Radiotelegraph.

Read the thread for more info.

OK, this is OT. I suppose TT doesn't make any 500KHz gear. Yet :-)

73 Kevin

On Dec 4, 2007, at 7:49 PM, Kim Elmore wrote:

> I have my 2nd Class Radiotelegraph, mainly because I saw that it was
> still available. For some odd reason, the FCC hasn't done away with
> it. I took my 20 wpm Extra test before the FCC, so I qualified by
> taking only the written portion. The written is pretty arcane (and
> hasn't been updated for many years), asking lots of questions about
> super-regen receivers and message handling protocols. I learned those
> on CW traffic nets, so it wasn't too bad.

-...-
73 DE N7WIM / G8UDP
Kevin Purcell
kevinpurcell at pobox.com