1971 Novice Exam

There's been several threads in another forum lately debating "restructuring" to create a beginner's license.

The old Novice license has been mentioned a few times as an example. But nobody seems to remember exactly what the Novice test was like, except that it was "easy". Yeah. It was easy. For that time frame.

When I first licensed as a Novice in 1971, the license was a two-year non-renewable license. There were CW only privileges on 80, 40, 15 and 10 meters. No voice, no RTTY/Data. Transmitters were required to be crystal-controlled, and "input" power not exceeding 75 Watts.

Despite all those restrictions, many thousands of hams got a great deal of enjoyment from the hobby as Novices.

Most of those restrictions were modified or lifted starting in the mid 1970s. As a result, the Novice license eventually lost it utility and charm, in my opinion.

In 1971 the Novice written test was multiple choice. 20 questions. But the verbatim questions and answer pools were not published. However, the FCC, who administered the testing at that time, did release study questions that covered the necessary material, but were not worded as multiple choice questions. These were done in such as way as to encourage study of the material, not memorization of questions and answers.

The sample questions were published by the ARRL in the Radio Amateur's License Manual, which they'd publish a new version every year. I have the January 1971 version. Some are now obsolete of course. I've selected some of the 50 study questions below, to give a feel for what was involved.

What is the maximum permissible percentage of modulation of an amateur radiotelephone station?

What are the rules and regulations regarding purity and stability of emissions?

When may an amateur radio station be used by a person who does not hold a valid license?

What is Ohm's Law?

When is one way communication permissible?

What precautions can be taken to reduce the possibility of shock hazard in electrical equipment?

What is chirp and how can it be remedied in a cw transmitter?

Why is impedance matching necessary?

What two elements are most commonly used in the fabrication of transistors? What do the terms "alpha" and "beta" of a transistor mean? Draw the schematic diagram of a transistor.

What factors are commonly responsible for harmonic radiation and what practical means can be used to detect and correct such a condition?

The plate voltage in the final stages of an amateur transmitter is normally measured between what points in the circuit?

What is a Hertz?

Hmmmm....1971....I was 9 years old then, and my grandfather was beginning to Elmer me...too bad my father was such a douche that he wouldn't let him take me to the FCC office.

Our novices program that started in 1975 got after a sturdy exam 6 ! channels in the 2 meter band, no repeaters just simplex channels 10 watts output.

Now they have 25 watts part of 40 large part of 20 and the whole 10 meter band and full 2/70...
Still complaining about "needing" more space on 40 for digital modes and prefferably 80 meters... f*ck them.

Do the full license and get it all, if you can de the Novice you can do the Full with some effort.
I could ;)

I took my novice in '61, and it was good for one year non-renewable. Obviously I don't remember all the questions, but the majority were rules and regulations and as far as the technical goes, if you knew ohms law and the resistor color code, could recognize a the different oscillators (colpitts, pierce hartley, etc), the symbols for the more common electronic components, and how to identify the different classes of PA amplifiers, you would do okay. There were probably a few questions about antennas, too, I would imagine. And of course, there was the 5 wpm code that traveled uphill, in the snow, in both directions.

1970, took it from a neighborhood ham, WA0OHG. Got WN0CYU.

Upgraded at the FCC office in St. Paul MN before the two years was up.

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Originally Posted by WN9HJW

< snip >
What two elements are most commonly used in the fabrication of transistors? What do the terms "alpha" and "beta" of a transistor mean? Draw the schematic diagram of a transistor.
< snip >
What is a Hertz?

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Oh, my goodness gracious. Those two brought back some memories.

I took my Novice (and passed for my original WN2 license) in 1971. Free Saturday class given by members of the Livingston (NJ) ARC W2MO (club long defunct, call now assigned to another club) as part of the Livingston Student Development Program -- LSDP, and yes, we all had a snicker about those first three initials.

Although the tests were administered by what we'd now call Volunteer Examiners, they weren't supposed to read or grade them; they'd get them in the mail from the FCC, administer the tests, mail them back. And that was AFTER we had passed our 5 WPM code tests, so you know it took a few weeks between code & theory exams (no wonder so many early Novices were weak on the code... but that's another story). Of course, the VE's did "unofficially" look at and grade the exams.

Everyone in my class flunked the "What is the beta of a transistor" question. Of course, that's because we didn't really cover it, but the OT's from the club explained that everyone used tubes, so we probably would never need to worry about transistors... besides, you could only get a few watts output from transistors anyway. (Boy, how things have changed!). It was one of 3 I missed, though I don't recall now what the other 2 were.

Most everyone did get the Hertz question, since this was during the "transistion" phase -- most hams still said cps or kc or Mc, Hz was still not exactly a familiar phrase. But, they did cover it, because it was the "coming thing"

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Originally Posted by W7XF

Hmmmm....1971....I was 9 years old then, and my grandfather was beginning to Elmer me...too bad my father was such a douche that he wouldn't let him take me to the FCC office.

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I would have had a hard time taking an exam in 1971.

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Originally Posted by KB3LAZ

I would have had a hard time taking an exam in 1971.

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Me too. My high school transcripts prove that.

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Originally Posted by WN9HJW

There's been several threads in another forum lately debating "restructuring" to create a beginner's license.

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All of which will go where it usually does; nowhere. :roll:

Any of them file the petition yet? Didn't think so.... :roll:

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Originally Posted by KJ3N

All of which will go where it usually does; nowhere. :roll:

Any of them file the petition yet? Didn't think so.... :roll:

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That involves putting the beer down.

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Originally Posted by KG4NEL

That involves putting the beer down.

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And getting off their fat asses.

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Originally Posted by KJ6BSO

Me to. My high school transcripts prove that.

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Even if you fast forward to 1981 it would still be impossible. :D

I think the way the licensing system is structured nowadays is much better than in the past. What gets me are old farts who think they are better than everyone else because they took the exam at the FCC office in 1951 or because they had to take a code test to get licensed.

Note a lot of the questions in 1971 still revolved around tube technology which is now obsolete. Today the exams revolve around modern technology, i.e. IC's, digital circuits, computers, etc. Nobody wastes their time with tubes anymore except for crazy idiots like myself who insist on using rigs that date back to the 1950's. If I had any sense I would probably have all this stuff rolled to the junkyard and get myself a single modern digital radio. But for some crazy reason I just can't do that.

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Originally Posted by KB3LAZ

Even if you fast forward to 1981 it would still be impossible. :D

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GTFOML!

By 1981 I had passed my 3rd, 2nd, and 1st Class Radiotelephone tests at the FCC office in Philly. This was 10 years before I ever took a ham test.

Passing the written ham tests was never an issue. That infernal beeping just made me want to puke.

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Originally Posted by KJ3N

GTFOML!

By 1981 I had passed my 3rd, 2nd, and 1st Class Radiotelephone tests at the FCC office in Philly. This was 10 years before I ever took a ham test.

Passing the written ham tests was never an issue. That infernal beeping just made me want to puke.

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My mother would have been entering junior high school. xD That would have made my dad about 17. I suppose they could have taken the ham test at that time if they wanted.

Passed the 1st Radiotelephone in June of 1974, passed the Novice exam in Jan. of 1990. The 1971 exam doesn't seem all that hard. I graduated High School that year and made my first attempt to escape from NYC. Didn't happen for another 41 years (after 3 more tries).

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What two elements are most commonly used in the fabrication of transistors? What do the terms "alpha" and "beta" of a transistor mean? Draw the schematic diagram of a transistor

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by W3WN

Oh, my goodness gracious. Those two brought back some memories.

I took my Novice (and passed for my original WN2 license) in 1971. Free Saturday class given by members of the Livingston (NJ) ARC W2MO (club long defunct, call now assigned to another club) as part of the Livingston Student Development Program -- LSDP, and yes, we all had a snicker about those first three initials.

Although the tests were administered by what we'd now call Volunteer Examiners, they weren't supposed to read or grade them; they'd get them in the mail from the FCC, administer the tests, mail them back. And that was AFTER we had passed our 5 WPM code tests, so you know it took a few weeks between code & theory exams (no wonder so many early Novices were weak on the code... but that's another story). Of course, the VE's did "unofficially" look at and grade the exams.

Everyone in my class flunked the "What is the beta of a transistor" question. Of course, that's because we didn't really cover it, but the OT's from the club explained that everyone used tubes, so we probably would never need to worry about transistors... besides, you could only get a few watts output from transistors anyway. (Boy, how things have changed!). It was one of 3 I missed, though I don't recall now what the other 2 were.

Most everyone did get the Hertz question, since this was during the "transistion" phase -- most hams still said cps or kc or Mc, Hz was still not exactly a familiar phrase. But, they did cover it, because it was the "coming thing"

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I think when I first tested, about the only transistor I remember (at least the most popular) was the CK722 by Raytheon. Although the majority of stuff I built was based on tubes, I did build all kinds of stuff around that thing. What fun.

I had found a circuit for a 2 or 3 transistor code practice oscillator that used CK722's. Breadboarded it using a piece of cardboard & some clips from an old Erector set. The only soldering iron I had access to was a big one that my dad used for metal sculpture, and all he had was acid core solder, so I needed to solder it with the right tools.

Proudly brought it to a "construction night" at the local club. Set it down while talking to someone, waiting my turn at the iron. Next thing I knew, someone else (older ham) hands me a pile of parts and says "here, I took it apart for you." He did something like that to a few of the other younger hams or would-be hams there as well. Today, you'd call him an a$$wipe.

Of course, I couldn never find the article with the schematic again, and never did rebuild it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by W3WN

I had found a circuit for a 2 or 3 transistor code practice oscillator that used CK722's. Breadboarded it using a piece of cardboard & some clips from an old Erector set. The only soldering iron I had access to was a big one that my dad used for metal sculptrure, and all he had was acid core solder, so I needed to solder it with the right tools.

Proudly brought it to a "construction night" at the local club. Set it down while talking to someone, waiting my turn at the iron. Next thing I knew, someone else (older ham) hands me a pile of parts and says "here, I took it apart for you." He did something like that to a few of the other younger hams or would-be hams there as well. Today, you'd call him an a$$wipe.

Of course, I couldn never find the article with the schematic again, and never did rebuild it.

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A hot poker up the ass comes to mind.

I think my first 722 project was a keyer for cw. It used a couple of germanium diodes and small value electrolytics, (huge in size, however) a couple of resistors and a sensitive relay. The whole dit to dah ratio was determined by the value/charge/discharge rate of the caps. I found the project in a 60s or 70s Hints and Kinks from the ARRL. Problem was, with all that germanium, if I didn't bypass the crap out of the circuit, and keep it away from my homebrew, open chassis, 75 watt, 6146 transmitter, the rf would cause crazy shit to happen and then wipe out the semi conductors. A good time, none the less.

"I graduated High School that year and made my first attempt to escape from NYC. Didn't happen for another 41 years (after 3 more tries)."

Such a Valiant effort Snake, they made a movie out of it. You could have saved some time by making a Thunderbolt effort.

"Next thing I knew, someone else (older ham) hands me a pile of parts and says "here, I took it apart for you."

A hot poker is too kind, how does a cold 100W soldering iron and a Variac sound?

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Originally Posted by W7XF

Hmmmm....1971....I was 9 years old then, and my grandfather was beginning to Elmer me...too bad my father was such a douche that he wouldn't let him take me to the FCC office.

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You could have had a General class, or above over 21 give you your code exam and proctor your FCC written exam. I did, in 1976. Upgraded to General at the Detroit field office by Mr. Cotton W8DX. He scared the crap out of me. He administered my first phone, and microwave endorsement several years later. I was calm that time. My buddies from the JVS high school communications electronics program smoked bong hits in the hotel room that morning, wake & bake!