The big difference between Extra class of to-day and the one of the 50's is that back then it really was something "extra". It afforded no additional operating privileges beyond the General, so the only reward was pride of accomplishment and a nice certificate to hang on the wall. The callbook listings didn't even show licence class IIRC.
To-day's Extra is mandatory to enjoy full amateur privileges. Especially since Advanced Class was discontinued, unless you take the Extra class exam, your operating privileges are substantially restricted. The reward for passing the Extra is something completely different now, so we shouldn't expect the test to be close to the same thing it was back then. The name is somewhat deceiving; it ought to be re-named from "Extra", to something like "Full Licence", with the General re-named something like "Restricted Licence", and the Technician should be renamed "Communicator Class". And I don't understand why some people get their knickers in a twist whenever the topic of to-day's ham radio exams and privileges vs what old timers remember theirs were like when they first got on the air. Don k4kyv ______________________________________________________________ Our Main Website: http://www.amfone.net AMRadio mailing list Searchable Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ List Rules (must read!): http://w5ami.net/amradiofaq.html List Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/amradio Post: [email protected] To unsubscribe, send an email to [email protected] with the word unsubscribe in the message body. This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
