Element 4 – Extra Class

Depending on who you ask, you will receive varying responses when it comes to the class license you hold. The next step in the process for me is Element 4, Extra Class. Since the FCC dropped the Morse Code requirement last year the number of applicants making the jump from Technician to General and then to Extra have skyrocketed.

Personally, I think this is great news! More amateurs on the air to talk to. Of course there will be a small percentage who don’t believe those who successfully pass Element 4 are true Extra operators because they did not pass the Morse Code portion, which as I said was no longer necessary. Yet the fact remains, they took it, so should everyone else.

Currently I am working through the Extra Class License Manual from the ARRL. Based on the good progress I am making I should be ready to take the multiple choice exam in February at the next Mt. Diablo Amateur Radio Club meeting.

I foresee no problems completing the material. Notice I said completing and not comprehending the material. There is a big difference between the two. I am still working on understanding many of the topics covered in the manual. But you do not have to understand or comprehend the answers, you just need to memorize the answers to pass. It’s no secret really, many do it and in order have the ability to work all the bands set forth by the FCC and I need my Extra class ticket.

This does not mean I am going to give up on learning Morse Code. Once I have completed the written portion I will start back in on CW and I figure within a few months I will be back at MDARC to take the Morse Code portion and successfully pass that.