From: samodena@csemail.cropsci.ncsu.edu (S. A. Modena)
Subject: Re: Re: writing out -- --- .-. ... . in order to pass your exam
Organization: Crop Science Dept., NCSU, Raleigh, NC 27695-7620
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 15:09:56 GMT

In article <19530064@hpfcmgw.FC.HP.COM> perry@hpfcmgw.FC.HP.COM (Perry Scott) writes:
>miles@ms.uky.edu (Stephen D. Grant) writes:
>> at a recent W5YI VEC testing, a female wrote down all .'s and -'s and
>> was allowed to do so. she got her general (while 4 others struggled).
>> i was going to use this "cheat" method myself. is it legal or not?

If you come to the W5YI exam session sponsored by the Raleigh ARS VEC,
the answer is "yes" you may do it that way.

>
>This is the first I've heard of anyone doing this at 13 wpm.  Just
>watching her write that fast would have been impressive enough to award
>her General.  :-)
>
>The rules only require the examinee to demonstrate the ability to send
>and receive text in Morse Code.  Intermediate forms are not of interest.
                                  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

For example, in some of our sessions, the code examiners might announce
(ahead of time) that they will score only by correcting the 10 question
exam and will not check for 1 minute of solid copy as a means of passing.
So in that situation, why should there be policing of the examinees
beyond noticing that they are not consulting amongst each other?  :^)

>In the one VE session I worked, one examinee copied in Sanskrit.  
                                                        ^^^^^^^^
So let's say the examinee is from Moscow and copies in Cyrillic...or
the examinee is Israeli and copies in Hewbrew script (or Arabic script)?

Suppose I come in (as an ex-military cw traffic op from 40 years ago),
copy everything in my head (because I can really do this),
and just write down the answers when the 10-question sheet is passed
around...did I cheat?   Of course not...and I would not be able to
show an "intermediate" form....whether dots and dashes on paper or
dots and dashes in my memory.....  :^)

>..........................................................It was
>accepted by the rest of the team.  We only care about 7 of 10 questions
>or one minute of copy.
>
>Perry Scott
>AA0ET

But this topic raises another question where I feel the ARRL (and other
VECs, I guess) have possibly indifferent?

Are written theory exams available in Spanish?  In which language do
the citizens of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico take their exams
WHEN THEY USE ARRL-supplied examination supplies?  (Or W5YI?)

Perhaps 1-1/2 years ago I queried ARRL-VEC and got the answer: English.

Now I'd like to point out that I may operate my station AB4EL in
Hebrew to my hearts content talking to Israelis so long as at least
once every 10 minutes I identify with my callsign spoken using the
FCC-approved phonetics.....there is absolutely no requirement that I
actually know English (American) as a licensing requirement or use
English as a transmitting (or receiving) requirement.

And I suspect that there is no regulation requiring that I actually
take my code or theory exams in ENGLISH......but I might be forced to
for lack of availablility!  :^) 

Steve
---
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
|     In person:  Steve Modena     AB4EL                           |
|     On phone:   (919) 515-5328                                   |
|     At e-mail:  nmodena@unity.ncsu.edu                           | 
|                 samodena@csemail.cropsci.ncsu.edu                |
|                 [ either email address is read each day ]        |
|     By snail:   Crop Sci Dept, Box 7620, NCSU, Raleigh, NC 27695 |
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
         Lighten UP!  It's just a computer doing that to you.    (c)
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
         
Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.misc