When I took my first exam in NYC (1948) there was no novice exam.
Thirteen words or bust. I was 16 at the time. I was almost ready to
take the exam when I was 13 but I discovered girls in a big way during
the summer and ham radio went on the back burner for almost three
years. High schoolers with a ham ticket were rare. In the high school
I attended there were about 600 students and only two of us had a
license.
When I got my license most hams did not know that W2 calls were
being reissued. Almost every contact on 40 meter cw would start off
by saying something like, hi old timer. When I went to my first ham
convention (I hitch hiked about 70 miles) people asked if W2DEC
was my father's call :-)
There were no multiple choice questions and you had to draw diagrams.
I remember the examiner giving me credit for a diagram but patiently
pointing out a small mistake.
Back then there was only Class A, Class B, and Conditional. Class B
was somewhat like the general license, there were no phone privileges
below 10 meters. when you held a Class B for a year you could take
the Class A exam which had phone privileges on 20 and 75. There was
no phone on 40 meters.
When I passed the Class A, one year to the day later, I purchased a
microphone in the famous NYC Radio Row and didn't have any place
to plug it in :-)
The creation of the novice class was a brilliant idea. Had there been a
novice class when I was a kid I probably would have had a license
three years earlier.
Does anyone else remember Radio Row?
Merry Christmas.
Urb, W2DEC
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