"Scott Dorsey" wrote in message
...
Richard Knoppow wrote:
Perhaps this is the wrong place to ask but I am
assuming that most fans of boatanchor stuff are also
interested in history. I was recently looking over the
_Radio Service Bulletins_ published on the FCC site. These
were originally published by the Federal Radio Commission,
the predecessor to the FCC and date from the early 1920's
to
about 1930. In about a 1928 bulletin the requirements for
the commercial licenses of the time are mentioned. At that
time there was no differentiation between phone and
telegraph licenses but there were several grades of
license.
The code requirement for the top grades was (are you
ready?)
continental code: 30 WPM five letter code groups AND
American Morse: 25 WPM plain text. I wonder how many
followers of this group could pass that now. What I am
curious about is what sort of theory test went along with
this code test. The top license, called something like the
Extra Commercial, required at least 18 months actual
experience within the previous two years and allowed the
holder to be the primary operator of any kind of
commercial
station.
I don't know when the FRC or FCC changed the
classification of licenses, actually, I think they
modified
them several times, but its possible that someone out
there
may actually have held one of these licenses or its later
equivalent.

If the FCC offered the test, then somebody has to have
issued a cramming
manual for the test. I'd bet that National Technical
Schools had such
a thing. A letter to them might turn something up in the
archives.

I didn't take the First Phone until the seventies, but
when I took it,
I answered a couple questions oddly and got called in
after the test
to give oral explanations. They were apparently
satisfactory because
I passed. Could you imagine doing that today?
--scott

A quick look at a 1928 QST shows at least four schools
advertising preparation for commercial licenses plus an ad
for the well known Nilson and Hornung book. It might be
difficult to track down the paperwork from the schools
although I have a copy of N&H from this period. It would be
interesting to know just what a candidate actually faced
when taking the test.
Both my original ham license and commercial license
tests were taken at the FCC offices in the downtown L.A.
federal building. I think I was the only candidate both
times. Code first for the ham license, sending and then
receiving. I had trained myself well beyond the code
requirment but it was still a bit nervous time. Both tests
were multiple choice and I think I remember schematics
requiring some sort of completion but not sure of that. I
have a feeling the 1930's tests were a lot harder.
I know the reason commercials were required to know
both continental and American morse: traffic to commercial
land stations was still sent using wire circuits from the
traffic centers. I once taught myself American morse and had
qso's with a retired railroad telegrapher. Lost it now and
beside it would be different on a sounder.


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Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA