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Posted: 10/14/2020 9:50:40 AM EDT
[#1]
Fantastic. I haven't done anything with ham radio meetings or testing sessions since the king decreed we're all too stupid to make any of our own decisions.
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Posted: 10/14/2020 2:17:56 PM EDT
[#2]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Fantastic. I haven't done anything with ham radio meetings or testing sessions since the king decreed we're all too stupid to make any of our own decisions. Get into remote testing. I've done at least 16 sessions so far, which is what I wanted to do since I got Extra & accredited last year! |
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Posted: 10/14/2020 4:32:45 PM EDT
[#3]
That's very encouraging. Whatever or however they're studying, it's working bigly.
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Posted: 10/14/2020 5:21:56 PM EDT
[#4]
One gentleman drove about 1.75 hrs to test. He was the first person there and was waiting on Club Sec to open the door. He told the Sec he'd been studying like crazy, and had to pass after driving that far.
He failed by one, and after looking over his test, he'd changed 3 answers, and in doing so-failed. That really didn't sit well with me. As the 'runner' I'm the guy who gets to tell them if they pass/fail. I knew of this dudes plight and frankly I was kinda pissed. I reached into my arfpoor wallet and pulled out the $7. I had and tossed it down in the midst of our VE's. I stated "this sucks, that dude shoulda passed, and I'd like y'all to help me pay for him to retest." They tossed in the rest of the $15 and I went out to tell the guy he failed. He was very disappointed, and I asked if he'd like to retest, because he had proven to me he knew it well enough to pass. He said yes and as he went back into the test room, I ran off to grab another test. I arrived back and he had his $15 cash laying there. I informed him that we'd covered that and expected him to pass this time...and not 2nd guess your first instinct. 20 min later, he passed-missing only 1 question. He tried his best to give us his $15, we absolutely refused. I explained to him how the hobby had given each of us so much over the years and now he'd be able to do the same. Dude drove off with a visible grin FTW. it was cool and the best $7 I've spent in years. |
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Posted: 10/14/2020 8:26:52 PM EDT
[#5]
FB on the 87 year-old Lady, and congratulations on the retest.
Good move ......... very classy.  |
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Posted: 10/15/2020 4:48:09 PM EDT
[#6]
Great to hear, congratulations to all the new hams. I took my exams at ARRL HQ, nice place, great group of people there. In fact I am finding most Hams go out of their way to help us new guys.
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Posted: 10/15/2020 6:31:29 PM EDT
[#7]
Quote HistoryQuoted: One gentleman drove about 1.75 hrs to test. He was the first person there and was waiting on Club Sec to open the door. He told the Sec he'd been studying like crazy, and had to pass after driving that far. He failed by one, and after looking over his test, he'd changed 3 answers, and in doing so-failed. That really didn't sit well with me. As the 'runner' I'm the guy who gets to tell them if they pass/fail. I knew of this dudes plight and frankly I was kinda pissed. I reached into my arfpoor wallet and pulled out the $7. I had and tossed it down in the midst of our VE's. I stated "this sucks, that dude shoulda passed, and I'd like y'all to help me pay for him to retest." They tossed in the rest of the $15 and I went out to tell the guy he failed. He was very disappointed, and I asked if he'd like to retest, because he had proven to me he knew it well enough to pass. He said yes and as he went back into the test room, I ran off to grab another test. I arrived back and he had his $15 cash laying there. I informed him that we'd covered that and expected him to pass this time...and not 2nd guess your first instinct. 20 min later, he passed-missing only 1 question. He tried his best to give us his $15, we absolutely refused. I explained to him how the hobby had given each of us so much over the years and now he'd be able to do the same. Dude drove off with a visible grin FTW. it was cool and the best $7 I've spent in years. You guys are awesome! |
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Posted: 10/16/2020 7:14:28 PM EDT
[#8]
Quote HistoryQuoted: You guys are awesome! Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: One gentleman drove about 1.75 hrs to test. He was the first person there and was waiting on Club Sec to open the door. He told the Sec he'd been studying like crazy, and had to pass after driving that far. He failed by one, and after looking over his test, he'd changed 3 answers, and in doing so-failed. That really didn't sit well with me. As the 'runner' I'm the guy who gets to tell them if they pass/fail. I knew of this dudes plight and frankly I was kinda pissed. I reached into my arfpoor wallet and pulled out the $7. I had and tossed it down in the midst of our VE's. I stated "this sucks, that dude shoulda passed, and I'd like y'all to help me pay for him to retest." They tossed in the rest of the $15 and I went out to tell the guy he failed. He was very disappointed, and I asked if he'd like to retest, because he had proven to me he knew it well enough to pass. He said yes and as he went back into the test room, I ran off to grab another test. I arrived back and he had his $15 cash laying there. I informed him that we'd covered that and expected him to pass this time...and not 2nd guess your first instinct. 20 min later, he passed-missing only 1 question. He tried his best to give us his $15, we absolutely refused. I explained to him how the hobby had given each of us so much over the years and now he'd be able to do the same. Dude drove off with a visible grin FTW. it was cool and the best $7 I've spent in years. You guys are awesome! I love the story about the VE's pitching in to bring a new guy into the hobby! When I passed my exam last week the VE 'runner' congratulated me and, much to my surprise, presented me with a 'prize' of a new Baofeng radio! She wanted me to get on the air pronto. I already have a Baofeng so I politely declined the gift. Needless to say, it was a very generous gesture and symbolic of the kind of people in Ham Radio. |
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Posted: 10/16/2020 7:29:40 PM EDT
[#9]
Great stories.
We just supply coffee and donuts. |
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Posted: 10/16/2020 7:52:48 PM EDT
[#10]
My ARRL VE credentials just came in the mail today!
My first official session will be Nov 7th. Need a nice frame for the cert and some sort of lanyard for the badge. |
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Posted: 10/17/2020 10:28:14 PM EDT
[#11]
I'm also a VE. We had a session today. Only 6 people showed up, compared to 19 people last month. 5 passed one didn't. I felt bad for the guy and offered to pay $15 if he was willing to try the Technician test again. He failed it again.
 .Each session, we have a drawing for a new Baofeng UV-5r for all who pass a technician test. |
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Posted: 10/18/2020 5:20:41 PM EDT
[#12]
Our VE's (Laurel) never charge. Why charge for a retake? It takes less than a minute each to check the scantron. Every retest I've seen they just handed them a new test booklet and scantron sheet. The difficult part is registering them and entering the info into the computer when they pass.
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Posted: 10/18/2020 5:59:03 PM EDT
[#13]
Local club (I'm a non member VE) charges for everything. When I passed in '11 they automatically added me to club roster for year remaining. That went away sometime ago. Guess it got into bottom line.
I'm waiting on a few others to get their VE and hopefully begin a complimentary teaching/testing group (non league/club affiliated) |
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Posted: 10/19/2020 8:05:41 AM EDT
[#14]
Quote HistoryQuoted: One gentleman drove about 1.75 hrs to test. He was the first person there and was waiting on Club Sec to open the door. He told the Sec he'd been studying like crazy, and had to pass after driving that far. He failed by one, and after looking over his test, he'd changed 3 answers, and in doing so-failed. That really didn't sit well with me. As the 'runner' I'm the guy who gets to tell them if they pass/fail. I knew of this dudes plight and frankly I was kinda pissed. I reached into my arfpoor wallet and pulled out the $7. I had and tossed it down in the midst of our VE's. I stated "this sucks, that dude shoulda passed, and I'd like y'all to help me pay for him to retest." They tossed in the rest of the $15 and I went out to tell the guy he failed. He was very disappointed, and I asked if he'd like to retest, because he had proven to me he knew it well enough to pass. He said yes and as he went back into the test room, I ran off to grab another test. I arrived back and he had his $15 cash laying there. I informed him that we'd covered that and expected him to pass this time...and not 2nd guess your first instinct. 20 min later, he passed-missing only 1 question. He tried his best to give us his $15, we absolutely refused. I explained to him how the hobby had given each of us so much over the years and now he'd be able to do the same. Dude drove off with a visible grin FTW. it was cool and the best $7 I've spent in years. |
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Posted: 10/23/2020 6:02:07 AM EDT
[#15]
Quote HistoryQuoted: One gentleman drove about 1.75 hrs to test. He was the first person there and was waiting on Club Sec to open the door. He told the Sec he'd been studying like crazy, and had to pass after driving that far. He failed by one, and after looking over his test, he'd changed 3 answers, and in doing so-failed. That really didn't sit well with me. As the 'runner' I'm the guy who gets to tell them if they pass/fail. I knew of this dudes plight and frankly I was kinda pissed. I reached into my arfpoor wallet and pulled out the $7. I had and tossed it down in the midst of our VE's. I stated "this sucks, that dude shoulda passed, and I'd like y'all to help me pay for him to retest." They tossed in the rest of the $15 and I went out to tell the guy he failed. He was very disappointed, and I asked if he'd like to retest, because he had proven to me he knew it well enough to pass. He said yes and as he went back into the test room, I ran off to grab another test. I arrived back and he had his $15 cash laying there. I informed him that we'd covered that and expected him to pass this time...and not 2nd guess your first instinct. 20 min later, he passed-missing only 1 question. He tried his best to give us his $15, we absolutely refused. I explained to him how the hobby had given each of us so much over the years and now he'd be able to do the same. Dude drove off with a visible grin FTW. it was cool and the best $7 I've spent in years.
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Posted: 11/8/2020 11:55:55 PM EDT
[#16]
I helped run my first session as a VE this Saturday.
We had about 10 people, 9 passed, all tried for the next element and failed except for one person that failed the tech exam. I was one of the three graders, graded a total of 19 tests and signed off on 9 CSCE's. We also get 100 points in ARES Connect for being a VE at a test session. |
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Posted: 11/9/2020 1:50:13 AM EDT
[#17]
That's an awesome story.
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Posted: 11/9/2020 2:02:18 AM EDT
[#18]
Quote HistoryQuoted: One gentleman drove about 1.75 hrs to test. He was the first person there and was waiting on Club Sec to open the door. He told the Sec he'd been studying like crazy, and had to pass after driving that far. He failed by one, and after looking over his test, he'd changed 3 answers, and in doing so-failed. That really didn't sit well with me. As the 'runner' I'm the guy who gets to tell them if they pass/fail. I knew of this dudes plight and frankly I was kinda pissed. I reached into my arfpoor wallet and pulled out the $7. I had and tossed it down in the midst of our VE's. I stated "this sucks, that dude shoulda passed, and I'd like y'all to help me pay for him to retest." They tossed in the rest of the $15 and I went out to tell the guy he failed. He was very disappointed, and I asked if he'd like to retest, because he had proven to me he knew it well enough to pass. He said yes and as he went back into the test room, I ran off to grab another test. I arrived back and he had his $15 cash laying there. I informed him that we'd covered that and expected him to pass this time...and not 2nd guess your first instinct. 20 min later, he passed-missing only 1 question. He tried his best to give us his $15, we absolutely refused. I explained to him how the hobby had given each of us so much over the years and now he'd be able to do the same. Dude drove off with a visible grin FTW. it was cool and the best $7 I've spent in years. That's great! |
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Posted: 11/9/2020 2:03:26 AM EDT
[#19]
Quoted: 17 peeps showed, 17 passed. 1 Extra Upgrade, 1 General Upgrade, 15 New Techs. Furthest drive was appx 2 hrs. 4 Ladies tested, 1 was the General Upgrade, one New Tech (XYL) was 87 years old. Nice to hear about some activity. Around here it's dead as can be. |
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Posted: 11/9/2020 7:26:19 PM EDT
[#20]
Quote HistoryQuoted: One gentleman drove about 1.75 hrs to test. He was the first person there and was waiting on Club Sec to open the door. He told the Sec he'd been studying like crazy, and had to pass after driving that far. He failed by one, and after looking over his test, he'd changed 3 answers, and in doing so-failed. That really didn't sit well with me. As the 'runner' I'm the guy who gets to tell them if they pass/fail. I knew of this dudes plight and frankly I was kinda pissed. I reached into my arfpoor wallet and pulled out the $7. I had and tossed it down in the midst of our VE's. I stated "this sucks, that dude shoulda passed, and I'd like y'all to help me pay for him to retest." They tossed in the rest of the $15 and I went out to tell the guy he failed. He was very disappointed, and I asked if he'd like to retest, because he had proven to me he knew it well enough to pass. He said yes and as he went back into the test room, I ran off to grab another test. I arrived back and he had his $15 cash laying there. I informed him that we'd covered that and expected him to pass this time...and not 2nd guess your first instinct. 20 min later, he passed-missing only 1 question. He tried his best to give us his $15, we absolutely refused. I explained to him how the hobby had given each of us so much over the years and now he'd be able to do the same. Dude drove off with a visible grin FTW. it was cool and the best $7 I've spent in years. Good character. You have it. 
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Posted: 11/9/2020 7:39:29 PM EDT
[#21]
Quote HistoryQuoted: One gentleman drove about 1.75 hrs to test. He was the first person there and was waiting on Club Sec to open the door. He told the Sec he'd been studying like crazy, and had to pass after driving that far. He failed by one, and after looking over his test, he'd changed 3 answers, and in doing so-failed. That really didn't sit well with me. As the 'runner' I'm the guy who gets to tell them if they pass/fail. I knew of this dudes plight and frankly I was kinda pissed. I reached into my arfpoor wallet and pulled out the $7. I had and tossed it down in the midst of our VE's. I stated "this sucks, that dude shoulda passed, and I'd like y'all to help me pay for him to retest." They tossed in the rest of the $15 and I went out to tell the guy he failed. He was very disappointed, and I asked if he'd like to retest, because he had proven to me he knew it well enough to pass. He said yes and as he went back into the test room, I ran off to grab another test. I arrived back and he had his $15 cash laying there. I informed him that we'd covered that and expected him to pass this time...and not 2nd guess your first instinct. 20 min later, he passed-missing only 1 question. He tried his best to give us his $15, we absolutely refused. I explained to him how the hobby had given each of us so much over the years and now he'd be able to do the same. Dude drove off with a visible grin FTW. it was cool and the best $7 I've spent in years. Good on you. Anyone doing remote testing? I'm not sure the site near us is doing testing and I have someone wanting to take the tech test. |
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Posted: 11/10/2020 3:51:08 AM EDT
[#22]
Always good to hear more folks are getting into it..
My last 2 friends who just got licensed a while back both did remote. Both passed first time, one even got general. Gave me more folks to talk to! I appreciate the work VEs do. |
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Posted: 11/14/2020 3:47:47 AM EDT
[#23]
I need to get my VE credentials one of these days and help out.
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Posted: 11/17/2020 1:11:03 PM EDT
[#24]
I am now officially in the ARRL VE database with 1 session under my belt!
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Posted: 11/17/2020 1:16:10 PM EDT
[#25]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I am now officially in the ARRL VE database with 1 session under my belt! Thank you! |
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Posted: 11/17/2020 6:19:20 PM EDT
[#26]
I drove about two hours for my first tests. I wanted my general so I took the tech and general back to back.
The last guy scoring my general test last trolled me hard. He very slowly was counting as he scored it. He intentionally gave the impression he was counting wrong answers...I blurted out "there is no way I missed that many!" He was counting correct answers. I got a great score. They wanted me to try for Extra and I said "No way. If I luck up and pass it, my head will be the size of Montana. You have to have some ham experience first!" I was poor and could only do VHF so I had a blast with that. I was talking about how to fix parasitic oscillation in HF tube power amps with the local amp guru on a 2m machine when someone teased me about being just a General. That pissed me off so I studied the Extra material and used the trusty ARRL handbook library to bone up on the equations of inductive and capacitive reactance I had forgotten and drove over two hours to test for the Extra. The session was a bloodbath with about half failing hard. I saw the examiners offer a couple of guys retests and most declined. I passed and was very pleased. I took my test in the TEN-TEC cafeteria at the TEN-TEC hamfest. After I passed I sat down in the factory tent and drove an Orion 2. Epic day. |
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Posted: 11/20/2020 9:37:25 PM EDT
[#27]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I am now officially in the ARRL VE database with 1 session under my belt! Great thread, SCW...mirrors the local turnouts recently |
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Posted: 11/22/2020 10:06:57 PM EDT
[#28]
The more the better!
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Posted: 12/9/2020 2:10:54 PM EDT
[#29]
Last Night
Smallest group so far; yet 4 of them made 1+ hrs drive to attend/pass! 7 New Techs, 2 New Generals.  Attached File |
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Posted: 12/9/2020 8:46:28 PM EDT
[#30]
Pretty big crowd for us this past Saturday:
2 Didn't Pass Tech 5 Techs 6 Generals 3 Extras 11 failed "Hail Mary's" -> the 5 New Techs tried the General and the 6 new Generals tried for Extra |
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