Re: NABER Certification

Jun 22, 2022 Last reply: 4 years ago 4 Replies


>


> > That is what I got when the First Class Phone was not needed any more and
> > the First and Second Class was changed over to the GROL.
> >
> > I agree , I think many companies were started up or started handing out some
> > kind of certification just to make money. Where I worked I had to get
> > certified every year for something about radiation. Then came the
> > refregeration and ozone scare, certified to operate a stud gun, operate some
> > man lifting platforms, the Star program, ISO 6000 or was it 9000 , TPM,
> > deversity training, PLC certification (only thing that I got any training on
> > worth anything), don't recall what all else. Retired about the time the six
> > sigma came out with all the stupid belts. I even thought the First Phone
> > was a joke when I took it in 1972. I had studied some on a 2 nd class book
> > and at the time it cost one dollar more to take the First, so I signed up
> > for that and passed everything the first day. Never did see a TV
> > transmitter and would not know what to do if I had.
> The first thing you would have discovered is that TV used a pair of
> transmitters, in 1972. That was the year that I tested out of the three
> year, depot level school for broadcast engineering. It was the
> equivalent of the FCC First Phone, and was convertible without taking
> the FCC test, until the year before I left the service. I worked at
> three TV stations, in all. One AFRTS Army station, and two commercial
> UHF stations without a First Phone.

I too received my NABER certification paperwork and card back around 1986. I recall having to drive up to L.A. from San Diego and taking a long test covering all type of electronic, RF, Television and FCC type questions. It was a 3 or 4 hour brutal test. I think the NABER certification disappeared from usage more than twenty years ago. I looked to see if I could recertify it 20 years ago and it was nowhere to be found. I Had my NARTE CET and GROL licenses and wanted to beef up my resume with the NABER license. No Joy!

years ago. I looked to see if I could recertify it 20 years ago and it was nowhere to be found. I Had my NARTE CET and GROL licenses and wanted to beef up my resume with the NABER license. No Joy!

I had that NABER but got tired of sending them money as I never did work in the field that needed that. Have no idea about it now.

Originally, NABER was one of the first frequency coordination organizations to be recognized by the FCC. As I vaguely recall, they initially handled mostly land mobile stations, and were structured as a "business radio user organization". If you wanted a business frequency, you had to join NABER. They may have branched out into other areas later. See the first paragraph at:

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I don't know when they began issuing certifications as I was doing other things when that began.

Some of their history is still around:

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The timeline is wrong as they were fully functional in the 1960's and

1970's.
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What little contact I had with NABER was not mutually advantageous. NABER was highly bureaucratic, but an improvement over dealing with the FCC. Like most certification issuing organizations of the day, their primary purpose of the exams was likely to have been to sell their books, study material, classes, etc to assist applicants with the intentionally confusing questions in the exams.

Over the years, I've had many opportunities to take various certification exams, but never bothered. There were a few that I recall wanting, just for the status symbol. Somehow, the lack of certificates never affected my rather checkered career. I guess ham radio and GROL licenses might be considered certificates:

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Note that this thread started in 1995!

Peter Wieck Melrose Park, PA

I noticed, after I posted my reply. That's also that my reply was mostly a duplicate of what I had replied to the thread in 2015. I had been doing yard work, became overheated, and nearly passed out. After I somewhat recovered, I cleverly decided that it would be a good time to catch up on email and Usenet. The next day, I read what I had posted and decided that perhaps it was not such a clever idea. My apologies. However, I suspect it will happen again if I read something interesting as was the case with this thread.

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