How I passed the Ham Radio Technician's Test

[2011 UPDATE: the current test book does NOT look like the one pictured here. If you buy a test book, make sure it's the most recent version.]

I took the test last Thursday. Andy went with me and also took it. I had been discussing some of the technical stuff with him, because of the training he had in the Navy. Eventually I said "You know half of this stuff already. Why don't you study a bit and take the test too?" So he did.

We both passed the test, and both scored 100% correct answers.

I couldn't have been more pleased. I'd been doing practice exams on-line for weeks, and often did well but seldom got 100%.

Andy had less study time than me, but he also got the highest score. How did we do that?

Well, when I determined that I wanted to get a Ham License, I decided to study for the Technician's license. I started off by buying the ARRL's Technician's Training manual:

ARRL Ham Radio License Manual: All You Need to Become an Amateur Radio Operator (Arrl Ham Radio License Manual) (Arrl Ham Radio License Manual) (Paperback)

Product Description

Get your FIRST ham radio license! Easy-to-understand bite-sized sections. Use this book, and pass the 35-question license test. Includes the latest question pool with answer key, for use beginning July 1, 2006. Designed for self-study and for classroom use. Intended for all newcomers, instructors and schoolteachers. This is the most popular introduction to Amateur Radio!

The ARRL Ham Radio License Manual is your ticket to joining the ranks of amateur radio operators. Use this book to discover the appeal of ham radio. The Amateur Radio Service offers a unique mix of technology, public service, convenience and fun. Some hams enjoy communicating across the country and around the globe, making new friends over the airwaves. Others like to build and experiment with electronics, experiencing cutting edge technologies.

Some use their radios and skills during emergencies or disasters when all else fails. And, today's ham radio gear offers possibilities for getting started at any level. Your first radio station might be at home, in the car, or small enough to take with you on the go.

I enjoyed this book a lot, I thought it was a great introduction to Ham Radio for anyone who doesn't know much about it. Andy, on the other hand, thought it was poorly written and badly organized. But then he knew a lot of the stuff already, so I think he was impatient to get through it. I was familiar with some of the content, like basic electronics, but I hadn't used that knowledge for many years, so I needed the refresher that the book provided.

I read through the book, completing the questions for each chapter as I went along. I tried to do one chapter a day each evening, but for the longer chapters I sometimes took two days. When I finished the book, I passed it on to Andy.

Then I began taking practice exams, on-line. The site I started with was at eHam.net:

eHam.net Ham Exams

It's presented in a format much like the actual exam you take. You have to answer all 35 multiple choice questions, before you can check the answers. You need a score of 74% or higher to pass.

I did fairly well with it, when I consistently got a passing score, I figured I was ready.

Andy found a testing site he liked better, at QRZ.com:

QRZ's Practice Amateur Radio Exams

This site presents questions one at a time, and tells you right away if the answer you choose is right or wrong. If it's wrong, you can go back and tackle the question again till you get it right. Here is what the question box looks like:


Your score is kept at the top of the page for each test question. Wrong answers still count against your score for that session, but at least you can find out what the right answer is without waiting till the end of the test. Like Andy, I came to prefer this test site too.

Due to several events at work that came up and cut into our time, Andy wasn't able to finish the Technician's Manual before the test. He needed something faster to study, so I gave him a copy of a study guide that summarized the material: AH0A Technician Class Exam Study Notes, which I was able to download and print up from AH0A.ORG.

So between the book, the summary study guide, and the on-line testing, it was pretty easy to prepare for the test. It just required making time to read the materials, and to keep taking the on-line tests until we consistently got passing scores.

One of the secrets to getting high scores is to take advantage of the simple math "formulas" the study materials give you for calculating things like Watts, Voltage, Current, Ohms, Amperage and Resistance.

One of the things that was hanging me up was identifying band frequencies. Andy pointed out that I had overlooked the formula for calculating the frequencies to find which meter band they belonged to (300 divided by the frequency in MGz will give you the antenna in meters). Once I understood that, everything was easy, and my scores improved. All these things combined helped us to ace the test.

Now we are just waiting for our call signs to be assigned and appear in the FCC data base. Then the real fun will begin... applying what we have learned!

The American Radio Relay League, my missed opportunity, and my fun new hobby

As I've been reading up on Ham Radio (a.k.a. Amateur Radio), a hobby I've always wanted to pursue, I've found out a lot of interesting things. One of the more surprising things I discovered was, that the American Radio Relay League was founded in 1914 by Hiram Percy Maxim of Hartford, CT. Hiram was inspired to start the ARRL thus:

[...] In 1914, Hiram P. Maxim of Hartford, Connecticut, was a prominent businessman, engineer, and inventor (notably of the Maxim Silencer). He was also an active radio amateur, with one of the best-equipped stations in the Hartford area. One night in April he attempted to send a message to another ham in Springfield, Massachusetts. He had a one-kilowatt station (call 1WH), and Springfield was only 30 miles away, well within his normal range. He was unable to make contact, and remembering that he knew another ham in Windsor Locks, about halfway, he contacted the Windsor Locks ham, and asked him to relay the message, which was successfully done. This was not the first time a message had been relayed, but it set Maxim to thinking. At that time, a great deal, perhaps most of amateur radio activity consisted of sending and receiving messages, not only between amateurs, but involving the general public as well. But at that time the maximum reliable range of a station was a few hundred miles or less, and so Maxim realized that a formally organized relay system would be of tremendous use to amateurs.[7]

Maxim was a member of the Radio Club of Hartford, and he presented a plan for the organization of an "American Radio Relay League" (he had already decided on the name) to the club at its April 1914 meeting. The club agreed to sponsor the development of such an organization. [...]

The the ARRL outgrew the Hartford Radio Club and split off as a separate entity... there is quite a bit more history of it's evolution and struggles which I found interesting, including difficulties with the US government in WWI and WWII. So different from nowadays, where they seem to have reached harmonious accord.

The ARRL's current headquarters are in Newington CT, just south of Hartford. The ARRL today:

[...] The ARRL represents the interests of amateur radio operators before federal regulatory bodies, provides technical advice and assistance to amateur radio enthusiasts, and supports a number of educational programs throughout the country. The ARRL has approximately 152,000 members. In addition to members in the US, the organization claims over 7,000 members in other countries. The ARRL publishes many books and a monthly membership journal called QST.

The ARRL is the primary representative organization of amateur radio operators to the US government. It performs this function by lobbying the US Congress and the Federal Communications Commission. The ARRL is also the international secretariat of the International Amateur Radio Union, which performs a similar role internationally, advocating for amateur radio interests before the International Telecommunications Union and the World Administrative Radio Conferences. [...]

The irony is, I've long had an interest in Amateur Radio, and I grew up in Hartford county, near the ARRL headquaters, which is just a short drive from where I lived, and it's often open to visitors. I could have visited at any time, but I didn't even know about it. I love all that history, and it all started practically in my own back yard. But I missed it, I only find out about it decades later, when I'm living on the other side of the continent. Talk about missed opportunities! Darn.



W1AW, the Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Station

There is plenty to explore though, at the ARRL website at: www.ARRL.org. It's a terrific resource that I keep going back to refer to again and again.

Presently, I'm studying to get my Technician's license. That test has 35 multiple choice questions. I believe you have to get 26 of the 35 correct in order to pass. Here are two on-line test sites I've been practicing with:

Ham Academy Practice Test
This site offers exam study notes, and a selection of questions. When you choose an answer, it will tell you right away whether it is right or wrong. It will keep score of your wrong answers, and tell you if you pass or fail at the end.

eHam.net Practice Exam
This site gives you 35 questions, and shows you the right and wrong answers and your score only after you have completed the 35 questions.

I've been practicing and passed the above two tests for the first time last night, but I'm going to practice more before taking the real exam. You can learn more about the exam process here:

What Amateur Radio licenses are available?

The Morse Code Requirement has been dropped from the tests. That makes it much easier than it used to be. But I think I would like to learn to use it anyway, eventually. There are computer programs that can help you learn it. You can often transmit much farther with Radio Morse code (CW) and with very little power, than you can with voice broadcasts. It could be fun to learn and use.

I think this going to be a great hobby, and I'm looking forward to it.


Related Links:

Morse code - Amateur Radio

Oregon Emergency Amateur Radio in Action

The convergence of Ham Radio with the Internet