It’s official. After thoroughly consuming my Gordon West Extra Class Study Guide that I recieved for Christmas, Steve and I went to the SEMARA VE session today with Steve, KB1MEH and we both emerged victorious. Steve upgraded from Technician to General, and I upgraded from General to Extra. While they don’t tell you how you did besides whether you passed or failed, judging from watching them grading my exam, I seemed to get 9 wrong out of 50, which is the low end of what I was pulling on the practice exams (40-45). However, a pass is a pass and I am quite please.
I’ve always seen getting your license as the starting point, not the destination. Now that I have my Extra, while it’s a very big milestone, I can’t help but think “OK, what’s next?”
Twitter
LinkedIn
Facebook
Flickr
FriendFeed
Congratulations to both of you. I also used the Gordon West books to study for each license and passed with flying colors.
As a VE myself, I can tell you it is perfectly fine for those administering the exam to tell you how many you missed. Folks that have been doing it a long time might disagree (maybe an old rule or wives tale), but it’s even written in the VE Manual that it is perfectly fine. You can access the ARRL VE manual online at http://issuu.com/arrl/docs/ve_manual_web and if you go to page 54 of the manual it states:
The VEs must inform the examinee of their grade (pass or fail, and offer his or her score {e.g., 26 out of 35}) upon completion of the grading.
If you are really interested, you might want to contact the individual (AA1FS according to their club web site) that heads up the VE sessions for SEMARA and ask if he can provide you with the number you got right. They shouldn’t tell you which specific questions you missed. In the end though, whether you got them all right, missed 1 or missed 13, you are an Extra class operator!
You might consider now becoming a VE yourself. It requires reviewing the manual, filling out a “test” and sending it in. It’s another good way to give something back to the ham community and you can help in future sessions to teach the old dogs a new trick.
Congratulations again – David – K2DSL
Posted by David - K2DSL on February 8th, 2009.
David, thanks for that info. I’ve heard that it’s at the VE’s discretion. Besides idle curiosity, it doesn’t really matter that much.
I am thinking about going for my VE next. Just need to sit down and look into it.
Posted by Innismir on February 8th, 2009.
Congratulations. You ask what’s next. Ham radio is an old, well established hobby with plenty of little niche interests. I’d like to suggest picking one and developing real expertise. Maybe choose one of the classic aspects like antenna experimentation, CW, or paper chasing. Or perhaps something new like DSP and SDR. Have fun.
Posted by Don, K7OG on February 9th, 2009.
Congrats on the license upgrade! I’m a Tech+, myself (N1QJA)
Haven’t really used it in quite a while, though.
Posted by Glenn on February 9th, 2009.
Congratulations on your upgrade! I remember when I got mine I felt 10 feet tall and at the same time a little depressed because I had been studying my butt off for 9 months to go from non ham to extra in 9 months and now I couldn’t study for an upgrade anymore. That was in 1996-1997. I got past that quickly though and bought a new HF rig(one that would work split) and a Rigblaster interface and started fooling around with the different digital modes, lots of fun. Anyway, congrats and hope to work you on the HF bands. My regular hangout especially 6-8 AM ET is 3.680 LSB.
Very 73, Cliff KU4GW
Posted by Cliff KU4GW on March 1st, 2009.
Congratulations Ben! Great news/job.
Posted by Paul (KG7HF on March 8th, 2009.