Sec Element standards. (1) Element 1: 5 words per minute

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1 Federal Communications Commission Part 97 Rules & Regulations / VEC to VE Instructions / National Conference of Volunteer Examiner Coordinator Instructions for Morse Code Examination Procedures & Accommodations Sec Element standards. (1) Element 1: 5 words per minute (a) A telegraphy examination must be sufficient to prove that the examinee has the ability to send correctly by hand and to receive correctly by ear texts in the international Morse code at not less than the prescribed speed, using all the letters of the alphabet, numerals 0-9, period, comma, question mark, slant mark and prosigns AR, BT, and SK. Sec Preparing an examination. (d) A telegraphy examination must consist of a message sent in the international Morse code at no less than the prescribed speed for a minimum of 5 minutes. The message must contain each required telegraphy character at least once. No message known to the examinee may be administered in a telegraphy examination. Each 5 letters of the alphabet must be counted as 1 word. Each numeral, punctuation mark and pro-sign must be counted as 2 letters of the alphabet. Sec Administering VE requirements. (g) Passing a telegraphy receiving examination is adequate proof of an examinee's ability to both send and receive telegraphy. The administering VEs, however, may also include a sending segment in a telegraphy examination. (k) The administering VEs must accommodate an examinee whose physical disabilities require a special examination procedure. The administering VEs may require a physician's certification indicating the nature of the disability before determining which, if any, special procedures must be used. 6. The Telegraphy Exam 6.1 Administering Telegraphy Exams The testing area used for giving written exams is usually acoustically adequate for giving code exams. Applicants should sit close enough to the audio source to hear the exam clearly but far enough away from each other to preclude cheating. Give any instructions you feel are necessary (such as your policy on repeatable warm ups, in what format the test will be heard, no talking during the exam, etc.) but do this before giving the warm up(s) to avoid breaking the applicants concentration. Remember, warm ups do not constitute an examination.

2 Effective April 15, 2000 there is only one Morse code examination, 5 words-per-minute. (See Part ) We recommend that code tests be given before written tests. However, there is no requirement that written exams must follow code exams. You need not administer a Morse sending test; however, you are free to require a sending test if you deem it important. (See Part (g). You may NOT require just the Morse code sending test and dispense with the code receiving examination unless accommodating an applicants handicap (see below). You are not required to use specific Morse code test tapes. In the interest of maintaining code test integrity, it is preferable that you make up your own if you have the means to accurately send code at the required speeds. Personal computers can easily generate the needed Morse code tests. We offer PC-compatible software which aids the generation and tape recording of code tests. Contact W5YI-VEC at for details. Be aware that most incidents of testing irregularities involve Morse code examinations. Be alert for pocket tape recorders capable of making copies of your code test! Change the text of your code test frequently, ideally at every session. We have code test tapes if you require them. Each tape has several properly constructed QSO-type tests on it. An examiners transcription of these tapes and suggested test questions are also included. 6.2 Accommodations for the Handicapped The FCC has issued guidelines for telegraphy exams which accommodate severely handicapped individuals. Special procedures include, as warranted, suitable pauses in sending the telegraphy test message after each sentence, each phrase, each word, or in extreme cases even each character to allow the examinee additional time to absorb and interpret what was sent. The dots and dashes may be sent to a vibrating surface or a flashing light. At the VE teams discretion, a sending test may be substituted for a receiving test if the applicant is handicapped in some way. A sending Morse Code exam may NOT be routinely administered in place of a receiving test. The applicant is responsible for supplying any special accommodative equipment needed to take the telegraphy exam. The VEs may read the questions for sight-impaired persons, or may transcribe the answers for an examinee who is unable to write. A special written examination may be prepared by the VE team that excludes diagrams for a sight impaired examinee.

3 Sometimes the nature of an individuals handicap is not clearly evident. The VE team may require the individual to submit a letter personally signed by a doctor, (an M.D. or D.O.), certifying that the individual has a disability or handicap before the VE team uses any special accommodative procedures. The letter should specify the nature of the individuals handicap. (See (k) Regardless of any special accommodation, all telegraphy tests must conform to (a), which requires an approximate five-minute message that includes all letters of the alphabet, numerals 0-9, the punctuation marks period, question mark, comma, slant mark and the operating prosigns BT, AR and SK. Ideally, a handicapped applicant should be administered as close to a regular telegraphy examination as possible. That is, begin with the most difficult style of examination that is warranted by the applicants disability: Either regular (no interruptions), a sentence, phrase, word, or at last resort, a character at a time. We trust our VE teams to use their own discretion in following these guidelines. More specifically, the entire VE team shall be the sole judges of the degree of accommodation warranted for a handicapped individual, just as they are the sole judges of whether the applicant passes or fails. 6.4 Telegraphy Exam Requirements Making a CW test is not as easy as making a written exam. A Morse code test must be at least five minutes long and contain all 26 letters, numerals 0-9 and certain punctuation (period, comma, question mark and slant mark) and CW operating procedure signs (AR, SK and BT). It is very important that your code exams meet this criteria as well as being exactly 5 words-per-minute. Your 5 wpm telegraphy examination should be (Farnsworth) character-spaced at 15 words-per-minute. The message cannot be known to the applicant, such as a poem, the alphabet, etc. A V V V warm up may be sent at the beginning of the message, but no other repeating characters (such as CQ CQ should be used. A good pattern to follow is a QSO-like text containing a few common amateur abbreviations, with call signs at the beginning and end. The message should be at least five minutes in length when sent at the required speed. Include a one-minute warm up before your exam so that applicants can become accustomed to the tests rhythm, speed and tone. Almost any kind of a Morse code test format can be used: Fill-in-the-blank, multiple choice, answer ten questions, or one minute solid copy. However, effective in 1994, two types of telegraphy exams have been disallowed by all VECs: True/False exams and transcriptions of the entire telegraphy text with ten missing words. The rules state that an applicant must prove to the examiners that he/she is able to copy by ear, texts in the international Morse code. While the W5YI-VEC does not believe that allowing an applicant to write down the dots and dashes of the entire code text sent and then

4 transcribe the message meets the intent of Part 97rules, this practice is allowed at the discretion of the VE Team. If allowed it must be announced before the exam session begins that the team will or will not allow this method of morse code examination. 7.2 Telegraphy Examination Grading Collect both the telegraphy copy sheet and the ten-question test from candidates after you have given them sufficient time to correct their copy and answer the questions. Again, the administering VEs are the sole authority for determining the correctness of an applicants answer, whether it be a character copied or the answer to a question. Candidates may pass by perfectly copying the code for a one minute period or by correctly answering seven out of ten questions. When looking for one minute of perfect copy, remember that alphabetic characters (A to Z) count as one character and everything else (punctuation, numerals and operating pro-signs) count as two characters. (See (d) One minute of perfect copy at 5 words-per-minute requires 25 characters in a row. 9.4 Testing of the Handicapped VEs may take steps they deem advisable to administer tests to the handicapped which take into consideration the applicants handicap. For example, code or written tests may be given orally (or dictated). (See Section 6.2 for special accommodations when giving the code test.) In order to avoid disrupting a test session it is sometimes advisable to test the handicapped separately. Since a VE team may hold an exam session for just one person, tests for the handicapped are usually held in this manner in the applicants home. Any needed additional equipment (such as tactile or visual transducers) must be supplied by the handicapped candidate. All normal test session rules still apply to this kind of a session (such as three VEs in attendance) and advance public notice should be given. (The public notice may state that the test session is not open to the public.) The passing grade for a handicapped person remains the same. However, the important point to consider when grading examinations is: does the handicapped applicant understand the required material and can he/she copy the Morse code? Requests from disabled persons. VECs shall handle all requests for examination credit from disabled persons. For examinees in general, the operator requirements are not lowered, therefore requests for waivers are inappropriate. No VE or VEC may grant a waiver of FCC requirements.

5 3.5.4 Requiring documentation of disability. The Administering VEs may require the examinee to provide a statement from a physician indicating the nature and extent of the disability before determining which, if any, special procedure must be used. See (k). VEs may not refuse to accommodate an individual who provides the statement. The original of the statement should be attached to the examinee's NCVEC Form Telegraphy examinations. Except for the holders of a Technician class licence who do not have hf privileges, all disabled examinees must have documented credit for one of the code elements or must pass code element 1. Disabled examinees may not be excused from this requirement. However, one or more of the following procedures may be used in the administration of the code element to the disabled: a) For the hearing impaired, flashing lights or vibrating surfaces may be used. Tone frequencies and volume may be adjusted to best accommodate the examinee's hearing disability. b) Where warranted, the VEs may pause the examination message at intervals to allow the examinee time to absorb, interpret and/or speak out what was sent. Intervals may be one phrase, one word, or one character at a time. If necessary, one of the administering VEs may transcribe the examinee's response to each interval. c) When pausing the message at intervals it may be more convenient to send the message to the examinee by hand, or via a computer; rather than to pause a prerecorded, taped message. d) A visually impaired examinee may take a written examination in Braille. e) A sending test may be substituted for a receiving test where the examinee's particular disability precludes a receiving test.f) VEs may require that special devices such as Braillers, flashing light setups, vibrating surfaces, etc., be supplied by the examinee Element 1 credit. A disabled examinee must appear at an examination session and pass the necessary element 1 examination to receive credit for the element 1 telegraphy requirement Telegraphy examination messages Preparation. Administering VEs may prepare the telegraphy messages they administer in examination sessions or they may elect to obtain pre-packaged telegraphy messages from the VEC or from a supplier. In either case, the telegraphy messages must be prepared by Preparing VEs with privileges as stated in

6 Message content. Each telegraphy message must be unknown to the applicant. It must not consist of a well known phrase from a poem, song, etc. It must be representative of the telegraphy messages typical of those transmitted by amateur stations. The character speed should be wpm, spaced at 5 wpm (Farnsworth spacing). The tone should be Hz Sending test. It has been the FCC's experience that a telegraphy receiving test alone is adequate proof of both sending and receiving ability. However, the Administering VEs may include a sending segment in a telegraph examination. See also and (g) Receiving Test. The test for telegraphy shall consist of 10 questions in the "fill in the blanks" format. A passing grade is 7 correct out of 10. A true/false format is not permitted. An applicant whose written copy is without error for at least 1 full minute (25 consecutive count characters) may be judged as "passing" when the characters are counted in accordance with (d), regardless of the score on the ten-question set Fill in the blanks format. This format is not to be construed as a test wherein the examinee is given the entire text of the transmission with certain key words replaced with blanks and the examinee is allowed to fill in the missing words as the text is sent.