Note that multiple guess exams will no longer be permitted effective July 1, 2001

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Morse code Exam Standards to Change July 1, 2001

The National Conference of Volunteer Examiner Coordinators voted to set up revised standards for the administration of Morse code examinations in the US. The move at the NCVEC's July 21, 2000 meeting in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, came in the wake of the FCC's December 30, 1999, action to establish 5 WPM as the sole Amateur Radio Morse code requirement. Under the NCVEC revised standards, examinees would have to show 25 character-count solid copy on their test sheets or successfully answer seven out of 10 questions of a fill-in-the-blank quiz on the sent text. Multiple choice 10-question exams for Morse code are no longer permitted beginning July 1, 2001. Morse examinations will specify use of the Farnsworth method of code generation as the default, where characters are sent faster than the overall speed and additional spaces added between characters, words and sentences. The Farnsworth "character speed" as a default must be within the range of 13 to 15 WPM. Standard 5 WPM tests with 5 WPM characters could be administered as a special accommodation (as the exception rather than the standard). The revised standards also call for a Morse code exam audio pitch within the 700 to 1000 Hz range. The new Morse testing standards are to be in effect by next July 1, 2001, but VECs may implement them sooner. ARRL VEC will be implementing the new standards via direct mailing to each ARRL VE team. Those teams (that ARRL VEC is aware of) who have ARRL/VEC-supplied Morse cassettes and CDs on hand will be sent replacement code tapes or CDs along with the hardcopy exam materials to use with them. ARRL VEC has chosen its settings within these standards to be 15 WPM Farnsworth Characters at a tone frequency in the 720-750 Hz range.