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HAM exam questions??

Klondike Mike

Klondike Mike

Sr. Member
May 31, 2010
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Alberta, Canada
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I posted this on another popular CB website but got no response. There is a different crowd here and I suspect it will be different.

I'll start by saying that my intention is not to offend any of the old school crowd but to open up the discussion about getting new, young members to become HAM radio operators. I am not one but have been using a CB radio since the seventies. From what I experienced in a online practice exam, there's no hope in h*ll thats going to happen for me or any 20 something. Here is a sample of some the questions I encountered;

-In a vacuum tube, the element that is furthest away from the plate is the (tube theory ... really?)

-What do many amateurs use to help form good Morse code characters? (Morse code ... really?)

-In a digital system, the modem is connected to the

-If household voltages are consistently high or low at your location, this can be corrected by the use of: (a UPS answer was nowhere to be found)

-Key-clicks, heard from a Morse code transmitter at a distant receiver, are the result of: (more Morse code?)

-In a bipolar transistor, the _____________compares closest to the plate of a triode vacuum tube. (tube questions again ... really?)

-In a typical CW transmitter, the ___________ is the primary source of direct current. (more Morse code?)


When I encounter questions about tube specifics or CW issues, it is the equivalent of asking me about how to use a chaff cutter or a breast plough. It is important and interesting to know of the history of Amateur Radio and its roots, but are these worthy exam questions?

If one wanted to join the police force today, would they be required to be proficient in the use of a horse-drawn patrol wagon? If I was to buy a new HAM rig today, how many tubes am I going to find in a ICOM IC-7800? Sure it has CW but ... My comments are made from the point of view of someone on the outside looking in ... do we bother to go in or do we just walk on by?
 

Hello Mike,

To eliminate the basic knowledge of amateur radio would be like buying a new car and letting it sit in the drive way because you don't know how to drive it. Try to imagine what amateur radio would be like today if it wasn't for some very hard working and devoted people who have invented ways of eliminating those tubes and replaced them with transistors. Examples like this are in the millions. That horse drawn patrol wagon would still be in use today if it wasn't for some very dedicated people who saw a need for improvement over the old. Most CB operators are content with what they have and have had for many years. Amateur radio is not in this category and never will be. SSB, CW, RTTY, PSK31, etc all came about by improving the hobby. I'm not knocking CB radio, I have one myself and it get quite dusty from time to time. You might ask why are there more than one amateur license category. Same reason as above. The need to improve over what we have now. I learned morse code as a teenager and I still use it today. Talked to Ireland a couple of weeks ago. We both have the same last name. I remember when I first started out in this hobby and like you I couldnt understand why I had to know basic electronics since I had no desire to build or repair my own equipment. But as time went by it became very obvious. The more you understand your hobby the more you get out of it therefore the more you enjoy it. If just keying a mike is all your interested in than amateur radio is not for you, I agree there is a lot to learn. Some people never make it past Technician and have no desire to. Thats ok for them but not for the majority of the rest of us. Learning the basic's of what ever field your going into is just a normal stepping stone to something worth while or there wouldn't be so many people in that field. The main purpose of amateur radio is to back up existing means of communications in case of an emergency. The more you understand about the hobby the better your able to be of assistance.
Of course this is just my outlook on the subject.

Harold
 
Harold, thanks for your input. I don't disagree with a word in your post. I got the gist of what you are saying.

I graduated over thirty years ago as an Electronic Engineering Technologist with honours, so I am aware of electronic basics. I studied antenna theory and used calculations to decide the proper sizing for a heat-sink given a certain power dissipation. In my final year, the project I chose to complete was the ARRL 1984 140 watt HF amplifier (using 2 x MRF454's). Even back then, glass was not even mentioned.

I am in the IT industry now setting up/troubleshooting corporate servers and all associated. Continual training is required more-so than anywhere else. If I take an IT exam today, there will be no question about who invented core memory or what was the model number of the first Integrated Circuit. Just because I learned about these things does not mean I have to make it a requirement for anyone new coming into the IT industry. There's a distinct difference on how the two industries welcome new members.

Oh, WireWeasel ... I'm sorry to hear about your spurned lover VE7KFM, but this is not the forum for that issue.
 
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Mercy sakes....anybody want to meet up for a CW ragchew and some tube plates on 14.275?

Yeah I understood everything Harold said too. It's just that half of it was hooey.
 
I guess Wire weasel should change the title under his name because it is obvious he is NOT Better Natured. :sad: WTF does Karol have to do with helping someone? Furthermore using the term "Talk" when operating CW is perfectly normal and acceptable or would you prefer the term "worked"? Then again I suppose you have a problem with that as well because how would you "work" a person unless you "worked him over" in a fight. As for Harold's comment "Folks who never make it past Technician - not like the "majority of the rest of us" ??" and your counter" Here's the latest stats for U.S. Licensees by class. Technician has over 100,00 more than any other." I thinjk you better go learn math again. He did not say anything about individual license classes but rather said "like most of us" and he was close. Tech class has, from your own link, 342,572 and the others, those being the ones that surpassed tech class just as Harold said, have a combined total of 340,016 hardly the 100,000 difference you think.

As for "Maybe you need to go back and do some studying. I hope you don't believe that your elitist posturing is the best way to attract new young people to the hobby as the op asks." Perhaps YOU need to go back and get better natured like your avatar title says as YOU certainly don't look like anyone that one should follow for good advice.

I guess the good naturedness couldn't last forever. :mad:
 
Wire Weasel said:
Sorry you don't get my jokes Captain. Don't take everything so literally.
Click to expand...

They certainly do not appear as jokes to anyone reading them and besides, why not take your own advice and not take things so literally. You were the first to react to the posts made.

Let's just leave it as it is at this point and move on in a better natured manner.
 
office888 said:
Tubes, morse code, digital, etc are all used in amateur radio. Thus, you should know about them.
Click to expand...

Very succinct ... although after thinking about it, I say this ... As a professional in the IT industry, computer programming with punched cards was the only way to get anything done with computers in the early days of computing. No mouse clicks, no fancy screen with icons on it to point to. Very important part of computing history. That equipment is still out there. More recent example, using DOS and associated commands.

Should we make it mandatory that any new computer user be forced to understand how to use punched cards or memorize DOS commands before they are allowed to use it? No, these restrictions are not in place and the world is flush with new users. Seems like a strategy that could be emulated with positive results.
 
Klondike Mike said:
Very succinct ... although after thinking about it, I say this ... As a professional in the IT industry, computer programming with punched cards was the only way to get anything done with computers in the early days of computing. No mouse clicks, no fancy screen with icons on it to point to. Very important part of computing history. That equipment is still out there. More recent example, using DOS and associated commands.

Should we make it mandatory that any new computer user be forced to understand how to use punched cards or memorize DOS commands before they are allowed to use it? No, these restrictions are not in place and the world is flush with new users. Seems like a strategy that could be emulated with positive results.
Click to expand...

Punch cards are no longer in use.

However, probably 70% of amateur radio operators still use morse code. SSB and CW are the two most used modes on amateur radio.

Vacuum tube based amplifiers are the extreme majority of the market, cornering probably 97% of the market.

Digital modes are growing in popularity.
 
The fact of the matter is that the FCC no longer requires knowledge of CW to obtain ANY license class so that is a non-issue.I would be surprised to see any questions regarding CW on the current exams. It is also a fact that a ham of ANY license class can go out and purchase an amp of 1500 watts output and that will very much most likely be a tube amp so for for the entire hour it would take to know what you need to know about tubes in order to get the one or two questions right on the exam I fail to see the problem with it. Another fact is that the tech exam is truely extremely easy and most of the fretting and fuming about the content expends more energy than the studying to pass them does.
 

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