• Oh come on, it's not THAT bad! The best way to combat the jitters is to be fully prepared. We've found that if you can copy about 2 words per minute faster than the test, it compensates for nervousness. Read the tips below and you'll know exactly what to expect when it's time to take the test.

• The 5-minute long tests are really pretty basic, including callsigns, types of radios, cities and states, weather conditions, etc. No medical terminology, quadratic equations, legalese, or foreign language phrases, just your everyday down home ham chit-chat stuff. But even though it may seem like pretty ordinary fare, every letter, number, and all the required punctuation marks and procedural signals are crammed in there somewhere during that 5 minutes.

• Listen, listen, listen! Don't assume anything! So even if you copied the city as, for example, Birmingham, don't jump the gun. The state might NOT be Alabama, it might be Michigan. Or the whole thing could be something you've never heard of, like Igiugig, Alaska. (Alaskans, please don't write, I picked that at random off the map, and I'm sure it's a lovely town.) Be ready for anything at any time. Stay loose.

• Write down EXACTLY what you hear. Don't use abbreviations unless that's the way the code was sent! For example, if you hear "New York", write down "New York", absolutely do not even think of printing "NY". However, it's just as wrong to write down "New York", if the copy you were sent was "NY". No extra credit.

• The sending and receiving station's callsigns are given twice during each test: at the beginning, and again at the very end. The receiving station is first, followed by "de" (dadidit dit, meaning "this is"), then the sending station's callsign. The second time they're given, move your pencil back up to the top of the paper where you copied them the first time and follow along. Be sure you got them right, they're important! You may hear the "slash" character (dadididadit) included in one of the two callsigns, something like, say, P5/AA8TC. (That's an inside joke, ask a DXer...)

• Anytime you recognize the word "is" (didit dididit) you can bet we're gonna hit you with something important next: a radio brand, antenna type, name, city, etc., and odds are some of that information will be needed to answer a test question.

• When editing your copy sheet, look for misspelled words and correct them. We're not going to try to trip you up by intentionally spelling things wrong on the test tape to try to get you to "correct" it later. Sheesh, just what kind of guys do you think we are? Fill in missing punctuation marks Like missing periods They are important. Make sure your printing is legible. We don't ask you to do this just because we're fussy, we've got a really good reason.

• When you're done editing your copy sheet, you'll get a 10 question test based on what you just copied. You need to get 7 correct to pass. Now here comes the bonus part: if you don't get 70%, we'll look for 1 minute's worth of "solid copy", or 25 characters in a row, by having 3 VE's carefully scrutinize your copy sheet. Each letter counts as one character, but punctuation, numerals, and procedural signals count as TWO characters. If we can put together 25 characters in a row, you still pass! Ya see why we insist on good spelling and punctuation?

• If you re-arrange the letters in the words "THE MORSE CODE" you get "HERE COME DOTS". Okay, okay, so that's not a test hint. But it is kinda weird, dontcha think?