Please let me know if this is the right forum for this question.

I am studying for the technician license. I am using Hamstudy.org and going through the questions and reading all of the explanations. Other than this, are there any other recommended books or sites to go through?

Thanks and appreciate the assistance!

The Gordon West books are good.

Basically just study until you reliably pass the practice exams.  Use the practice exams to find the areas you need to commit to memory.  And good luck!

The ARRL has a practice exam site as well: http://arrlexamreview.appspot.com/

This is my standard answer for how to study for the license exam(s). I advise you to do like I did: use hamstudy.org in the (free) STUDY mode. Forget practice tests. Just keep hitting the questions in Study mode. Why do it this way? Because it will tell you instantly if your answer is right or wrong. If wrong, you click the upper corner of the question and it will give you the full explanation.  You need that immediate reinforcement, if you are going to learn. You can take practice tests if you like, but I didn't find them very helpful.

As you go along answering questions, the site will keep track of, and display for you, the % of each category of question you have completed, AND how well you are scoring. This is cumulative. You can go back day after day, and it will keep your numbers.

Keep going until you have 100% of questions in all the categories. Then, keep going some more to push your cumulative score up. You will know when you have the confidence to take the exam, but I suggest hitting 90% in your cumulative numbers.

Also get the ARRL books for each license tier
(http://www.arrl.org/shop/Licensing-and-Education/ sometimes can be found for less at other book selling sites).

I found them most helpful when used as a reference looking up various things and reading about them in short bursts a couple of times a day, as opposed to reading them cover to cover.

This is what I did, before and after work every day for, I forget exactly, maybe 6 or 8 weeks. I first did it with Technician, then started adding in General, while still hitting Technician questions, then added in Extra while still hitting Technician and General questions, and it proved to be a good strategy, because I passed all 3 of the exams in one testing session. I had zero prior electronics or related knowledge, so if I can do it, you certainly can. At least try for General so you get a lot more frequencies to play in.

You guys are awesome! Thanks!

Can you introduce me to the center woman in your avatar please?

I've read so many of these stories like this and it pisses me off (In a jealous way, no hate)...

I studied pretty much the same way for the tech and passed it...  

I've been studying off and on for the General since mid December.  I don't feel I'm anywhere near ready for General and the Extra is sooooo very out of the question right now.  

I was hoping to take my General test at our Jan 8 club meeting, but that got all kinda jacked up.

If I get to study a bunch between now and the Feb meeting, I'm going to try for General.  IF I do pass it, I'll try the Extra to see what its about.

I'm not very confident either. I am testing at about 84%, but at this point I've been through the questions so many times I'm sure I'm answering them correctly just because I've memorized the answer word for word. I'm trying to read through the explanations to get the concepts and theory down, but that stuff gets technical very very quickly. I'll be taking my technician as soon as I hit 90% on the study mode.

I like youtube study/prep courses in addition to hamstudy.org. I found that having some of the topics explained with visual aids made it a lot easier to understand the material, esp some of the charts for the extra exam. I liked the David Casler videos and there are other that are good as well. I ride a desk most of the time and had them playing the background on a spare monitor. My wife just used hamstudy and while she doesn't understand any of it, her license looks the same as mine. . .

You're on the right track, OP.
Add this LICENSE MANUAL for an explanation of the theory and the rules and regs. And keep reading it after you pass the exam. It helps to know the reason behind them.

Ohm's Law can be baffling. This should help you remember it. There are many other memory aids on that website.

Good point.  


You can pass the test by studying test taking a la the schools and the proficiency tests.


You can pass the test by studying the material and understanding it.

I used the blended approach.  


I recommend buying the arrl books but if the Gordon books are better get them instead.  

Read a section in the book, review the terms.  Take the hamstudy.org practice test but instead of taking a whole test select the question drill down option for just the questions on the section you just studied.  Keep working through the book section by section and follow up with the dill down for the section on hamstudy.   After a few sections are done start taking the whole tech test maybe once in the morning and again later in the day.    My regimen was to study a bit while I had my morning coffee then pick it up again after dinner.  I wish I put that effort into my books in college thirty years ago.

When you get good passing scores on the tech test and finish the book take the test if the date fits available dates.  If not keep studying and start on the general book and tests in the same manner but now keep taking the tech rests and go back and review the more complicated concepts, I had to anyhow as all of it didn’t stick or I didn’t fully understand it.  


If you keep taking the tests you simply will recognize and memorize the answers.  That is studying to pass a test.  That is ok to a degree but there is much greater value in learning much of the material.   You will forget a lot of it after a while if you are normal.  If you are technical minded it may stick.  With time on the radio some portions will just make sense like band use et cetera.  


If you have time study all three before testing, it’s cheaper.  If that is not workable and I understand, really try to get tech and general together as tech gives you mostly vhf and uhf privileges.  General gets you that and a good swath of the HF band.    It gets you the proverbial 87% of ham privileges.   I knew I wanted HF more than VHF so that was what I did.   I had to cram my studies in a shorter time frame when I heard of a short notice exam session when none were going on due to covid.  I was 75% of the way through tech when I stomped on the accelerator and finish that and jump into general.  I got through both books with about 48 hours to spare.   I went for Extra several months later as I knew I wanted to build on what I learned before it started to fade.   If you wait a year you likely will have to relearn it all for Extra to go without to much struggle.  As it was it is still a chore for my pea brain.

Good luck.  If a 12 year old can pass extra, you and I can.

This site has free downloadable study guides, PPT presentations and videos.  Ham Radio Study and Licensing


mm

Hello. I am a Volunteer Examiner with several VEC groups. There are lots of resources for studying. Hamstudt.org is one of the best. There is also https://hamradiofornontechies.com/ Scott has a bunch of books listed with links to where to buy them, website links, and other resources to help you pass your exam. You can also use the many YouTube videos. Ham Radio 2.0, W4EEY, or David Cassler are just 3 that have great Technician classes free for anyone to watch. You can also join TOADs Discord https://discord.gg/frHBDCdbzV We are a large group of friendly hams that help each other learn and grow in the hobby. All are welcome to join and it's free.

I hope this helps.

73
Plasmastorm73 KY4IF [E] [VE]

This is all I ever used for Technician and General:

https://hamexam.org/

For in-depth study and learning I just googled every single term or concept I didnt understand.

Worked very well.

I used hamstudy.org for my tech, general, and extra.

I also recommend W4EEY. They go through every question and answer in the test pool.

W4EEY Technician Class 2020 Playlist

@Plasmastorm73 where are you in Florida?

Same here.  I can’t recommend HamStudy.org high enough.  It definitely was instrumental in getting me my Extra.

I've got my extra, but yeah hearing stories of folks who sit and pass all three at once made me envious too. I did great with the Tech. Went from nothing to passing in a week. Took me a couple weeks or so for General. Then took me a couple months for Extra. It was just considerably more difficult. I could understand or at least learn the Tech stuff and same for General. Extra made my brain hurt. I passed it on the first try, but it was not easy.

Actually just looked up and my CSCE is still thumbtacked on the wall. One year ago today I got my Extra.

I think it was Dave Casler who said in one of his videos that most of the people he knew of who went from zero to extra in one sitting quickly abandoned the hobby. His advice seems solid: take some time to immerse yourself at each level, then move to the next.

I have a mild fear of that.   Some nights I play radio and other nights I don’t feel like it.   I had the radio on last night and it was wall to wall dx contesting.  All US very little else.  I did try a call to a Falkland Islands station that I could hear quite well but I don’t think he heard me and soon went of the air or I lost the path from him.

I downloaded G4fon’s latest morse training software today to get back into it.  I no longer had an older version that I started with about four years ago and didn’t stick with it.  The later version is stuck on 20 wpm and my current speakers carry the tone of the dits and dahs with ringing sound on the tail blending it all together.   It was awful and I had more holes than copied letters.  Very discouraging.  I will see if I can pick up speakers that don’t have a ringing tone, these speakers have a big base speaker on the floor feeding the two mini speakers.   Even with the base turned it still carries a ringing with each note.

I've used QRZ.com in the past for their study section. It's free to use, you can sign up with a user name and change that to your call sign when you pass the test.
73,
Rob

It's the weekend... for better or worse, many weekends have some kind of contest activity going on.

Test prep doesn't make you a knowledgeable op. You can put time into test prep if you want, but I usually suggest to not spend a lot of time delving into test questions, but instead pursue more comprehensive information on the subjects that interest you.

A lot of things are learned from practical experience, where the old elmer system helped a lot. Youtube is a poor replacement for elmers.

Zero to Extra doesn't mean someone will be a good op, just means they have a good memory and/or test taking skills.

Amateur radio has 1x10^87 niches, but it's still not for everyone. Some people won't like it and will pursue other things.

I have an extra and am the Vice President of the local club and I don't even like talking on the radio. I'll talk on the club repeater and use couple of digital modes a week. To be fair I don't like talking to rando's in person either, I like the pace of the slower digital modes. I do like he technical side of the hobby, electronics, antenna design, teaching, packet (I run an rms gateway), I don't even mind logging for field days. You can find a niche for every personality.

Can anyone really say they know a lot of people who went from unlicensed to Extra in one session? So, how many people is Casler really talking about who gave up on the hobby? And, how many people who get a Tech or General license lose interest and abandon the hobby? Is the percentage any different? Who knows.

For me, it was about having access to all of the legal frequencies and bands, and not having to go through the hassle of taking multiple exams.  Imagine if your driver's license was restricted and you could only drive on certain roads...

Ditto, I viewed the license as an admission ticket only. General license priveledges were the bare minimum to get me into HF bands.  Extra was just extra but I knew full well to press on while my brain was in study mode and build upon the base before it got rusty......or it would be that much more difficult.  


At the moment I have near zero interest in digital comms.  I guess I would eventually like to at least try it but don’t see it as interesting.  I don’t get the utility of making a very short contact in that manner.  OK it can be done but what data was transmitted? It barely rates being an impersonal hello. imho.
Maybe I just don’t know enough to have a valid opinion on it.

Completely agree. I hit study mode hard to get the ticket. I can spend the rest of my life learning more about all of the how and why of it (and am working on that, albeit slowly). I am still amazed and fascinated that I can talk to some guy in South Africa or Japan with my little 100w radio and a wire. It is one of the coolest things ever.

That's the beauty of this hobby. There are tons of options out there. Digital modes aren't for everyone. I know a guy locally who despises them. Although I suspect its mostly because he does not understand them. He tried FT8 once, got utterly confused on setting it up and declared it pointless. They aren't my favorite thing to do in the world. But they will get through when phone fails and it's something to do at night when making noise isn't such a good idea.

Casler has been very active in the hobby for several decades, including time as a VE and in his local ham clubs, as well as having a major presence as an instructor on yourtube. I have a feeling he knows what he's talking about, and so does the ARRL who he writes a column for now in QST. He's also commented on the mistake of techs or those who are unlicensed getting equipment they aren't licensed to use yet, only to sell it off when they lose interest. You seem bothered by my comment. I suggest you hit Casler up on his live stream or other youtube videos and ask him directly if you want numbers.

Not "bothered" by it. I just don't find this point completely believable. Do you really think he tracks the license status of everyone who took exams that he was a VE on, so he knows they let it drop and didn't renew? I don't. I like his videos and have learned a lot from them, and he seems like a nice fellow, but my BS detector went off on this one. Sorry.

I wouldn't mix up the (boring) Joe Taylor or Winlink modes with RTTY, PSK31, Olivia (we have a nice net every week and their many others), Hellschrieber (the Feld Hell club has a very friendly net.) Some modes are about as fast as a normal person can type with no errors, no reason that you can't have the same quality of QSO on a keyboard-keyboard mode as you can on SSB, just takes a little longer. If prop is good you can use fast modes that I can't keep up with typing wise, if prop is bad you weren't having a QSO on SSB anyway so slower is OK.

Your statement is akin to saying you can't have a quality QSO on CW, which I think everyone would disagree with.

I am grossly over simplifying digital into one lump.  Sorry.

Teletype style ops wouldn’t be bad, but the digital modes for the super short contacts are not that interesting.  

ETA,.....well I cannot have a quality QSO on CW, I seem to have dumb ears.  .

Good news on that front though,....


I figured out this morning how to remove the ringing effect of my speakers that was throwing me off.  I found some sound card speaker settings and removed one called “Environment” that was probably for theater type sound effect.  I also figured out how to slow the WPM down so there was at least a pause between letters.  


Now the trick is in teaching the old dog the CW “trick”.

I'm practicing for the General test even though I got the General ticket way back in 2007 or so.  So far, I haven't passed one test (~12 test sets).  

I'm one of those that took the Tech test, then used my ham radios mostly while on rock crawling rides.  I had 2m radios in my truck and rock crawler but not one in my home.  When I stopped rock crawling in 2009, I stopped using ham radios.  Now I'm getting back into it.

For practicing the General exam, I'm using the QRZ Patrick J Maloney app on my iPhone.  Sitting in the doctor's office for 2 hours - no problem, take some practice tests and slowly learn the material.  The QRZ Patrick J Maloney app also has the learning module so you're not limited to "learning the test" instead of the material - your choice.


ETA:  fixed the app author mixup.  

I got my tech in Oct 2021 and I've been working on my General off and on since...

I'd like to say im.going to be ready to take it at our next club meet (2 weeks from now), but I just don't see it...

I'm missing way to many and confusing things...

I don't get how fucking 10 and 12 year olds that have never seen a radio or a soldering gun just take the test and pass like its no big deal...

I know of a 5 year old that passed Technician... took the test verbally instead of in writing.

When I took my General, there was a 12-13 year old next to me taking it as well.  He missed two questions.  I missed failing by two questions!   Granted, I didn't practice or study nearly as much as when I took the Tech test.

I feel the same way. I don't really know how anyone can pass all 3 at once other than they just have really good memories! There is a local kid here who got the Extra when he was 12. No one in his life had anything to do with ham radio. He just saw a Baofeng on Amazon and it caught his eye so he started researching. His parents let him by the radio, not having a clue about it, and the kid set up a station to listen and went from there and got each license, quickly, one after the other. Crazy stuff!

I understand wanting the Tech and General at the same time or one quickly after the other because they are really two different worlds but I'm a fan of getting each license in steps. Get one and use those privileges and learn for awhile before you move on. I have almost exactly 3 years between each license. Getting the Tech, and hanging out with ham guys, allowed me to care enough to look further into the hobby and realize I wanted to get the General. That's when I truly realized the enormity of what the General opens up to you. I made lots of contacts and that is when I started finding contacts in the Extra bands, and getting tired of looking at the band plan all the time, that pushed me to the point that I really wanted to get the Extra. I guess if you have the memory and the dedication to study enough to get all 3 at the same time than good for you but personally there is a lot to be said for going through the journey and not just getting to the destination.

The problem with practice tests is you don't know which answers are wrong or ight until after you're done.

I recommend using hamstudy.org in the (free) STUDY mode. Forget practice tests. Just keep hitting the questions in Study mode. Why do it this way? Because it will tell you instantly if your answer is right or wrong. If wrong, you click the upper corner of the question and it will give you the full explanation.  You need that immediate reinforcement, if you are going to learn.

As you go along answering questions, the site will keep track of, and display for you, the % of each category of question you have completed, AND how well you are scoring. This is cumulative. You can go back day after day, and it will keep your numbers.

Keep going until you have 100% of questions in all the categories. Then, keep going some more to push your cumulative score up. Don't bother with a practice test until your cumulative score is high.

It depends on each person. I didn't get all three at once. But I did  get all three done in a few months. I kept pushing forward because my brain  was engaged in full learning mode. No reason to waste a good momentum. Plus I got it all over with and never have to worry about it again. Unlike a guy who started around the same time as me. He's a General but is struggling to get motivated to get his Extra.

The question looks overlap a lot and the higher tests re-enforce the lower test material to a degree. I know several that went straight to extra. Some of them are terrible radio operators and while they owned all the gear never really understood how to use any of it. Like a professor with no street smarts.

I went in to pass tech & general but didn't study for extra, should have. I went back two weekends later at the next test session and passed it. I'd have got straight thru if I'd have understood how to read a smith chart, I missed it by the questions on graphs I'd never seen, it pays to at least glance over the higher material as sometimes you can wing it and pass.

It's akin to taking a test in college vs after working a while. It takes time to get back into the groove of studying and testing. If I recall correctly the amateur radio license exams were the first tests I took since being in school 15yrs earlier. It's hard to get back into study mode once you stop. Forgetting the common half of the question pool between levels makes it worse.

Not with the QRZ Patrick J Maloney app.  You get immediate feedback after you answer each question.

Oh, that's really good, then! Do they also give you the full explanation?

During a practice test, No; they just give the correct answer.

However, they have other options, including:

- Review Question Pool (organized by section)
- Practice Question Pool
- FCC Rules and Regulations (verbatum from the FCC)
- New Test (practice test)
- Test History (I'm one Pass out of 13 tests for General )
- ARRL Home Page
- ARRL Exam Session Search (goes to the ARRL exam session search page)
- FCC License Data Search (goes to the ARRL license search page)

It's a great little app for your phone, I highly recommend it.  It has each of the following Tech (free (Lite) and $$$), General (free and $$$) and then Extra (free and $$$).  Not sure what the $$$ gets you.

And looking it up, I messed up who the provided the app:  It's not QRZ; it's a person named Patrick J. Maloney LLC - my bad.    I'll fix my posts above.  The QRZ app I have on my phone is basically a FCC license search page.  I don't know how I got the two coflated.

The Maloney app is a pretty good practice test app, I highly recommend it!

Feel free to shout "Ok Boomer!" but I hate doing things on a phone. Give me a big monitor and a real keyboard and mouse, and I can kick major ass, though.

Ha!  yes it was quite wierd to be book studying 29ish years after leaving college.   I felt slow brained for a bit.  I did actual do all the reading instead of skimming a lot like in college and high school where you were juggling 5-7 subjects.   I wish I put that much time in the books when I went to school.


I like the ham study answer explanations except when it was just some half baked cheat memory thing “ Remember x because it has the fewest letters like Y.”   Yea, that was useless to me.

The problem with practice test is you see 3 wrong answers to each question and they also get imprinted in your mind.  I don't take practice test until I am almost ready to take the real test.  I use the Craig "Buck" K4IA study guide.  Craig only presents the correct answers in the text and in bold so that is what is getting imprinted.  I passed Tech. and General in one sitting with 2 or so months study and am now using Craig's "Extra" study guide.

This is what worked for me.  I went thru the whole ARRL and Gordon West general books and was only getting 30% - 33%.  Switched up to ham study.org study mode and immediately started getting higher scores.  When I took my General exam, I got all 35 questions right and it took me less than 15 minutes to take the test

A book works fine, or various 'free' websites with a fast scroll on the multiple choice items. Spend more time on the areas you score poorly, and grade yourself.

Do not take the actual exam until you are consistently around 90 during practice. Have others under your roof leave you alone to study, and turn off the TV and other web distractions.

I think I used Ham Text Online.  It was during covid, and the exams I wanted to sit for kept getting cancelled.  Once I got up to 90% or so, I just subscribed for the next test.  Another cancellation, noticed I was getting near 90% again, so I subscribed for Extra.  I think I studied 10 days for extra...

The way it worked, while you were studying for the next exam, it would continue to drill you on the prior exams.  It worked well for me, past all 3 in one sitting that way.  That said, I think I had over 80hrs of studying logged so it was not entirely unexpected.  All in all, I think I planned on sitting 4 tests, but the first 3 (scheduled about 1 month apart) got cancelled.
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Tech is focused primarily on UHF and VHF.  The real fun is HF.


I managed to get somewhat of an understanding of the info on the Tech and General Tests.  Extra was simply memorizing all the questions and answers - no understanding at all.  I forget exactly, but it is only like 800 questions - painful to memorize but doable if you spend the time.  It's not like you have to remember the answers after you pass the test...

I will probably never do anything that requires Extra.  It was mostly a game for me to see if I could get one character removed off my initial call sign.  Almost a complete waste of time and effort - but due to Covid, I did not have much better to do with the hrs.

I am not a "bad" operator.  I am not an operator at all.  I need to take the time to actually use a radio.  I have had my license over 1 year, and I have not made a successful contact.  I made a couple second contact on an AR15 digital chat, but something was wrong with my configuration and I could not maintain it long enough to even finish my call signal.  So yes, it is sad.  I have an Extra license and can not even successfully use my radio.  The only real use of a radio I have done was illegally with a baofang.  I volunteered to be part of a security group, we set up everyone with identically programed Baofangs for the event.
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Technically I am part of a nearly local club.  I need to set up a mobile station and see if I can actually find a hilltop that can reach one of their repeaters - Of the dozen or 2 local repeaters I should be able to reach, only one has ever had any traffic - and it has been silent for 8 months or more.  I think I heard 30 seconds or so of traffic on one of the others, once.
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I was kind of looking forward to attending this winters field day - but the person who was planning it got Covid and it was cancelled.  I am in the slow process of building a new home - so will probably just wait till that project gets finished before I really try to put up a decent antenna.

It took me about 4 months to go from Tech - Extra.  When I got Tech and knew I wanted General....I always thought ham radio was talking to some guy far away.  After getting general I got sucked into radio and and found I was losing interest into going for extra.  Couple of guys I know said they were going to go back and do extra, but neither one of them had done it yet.

When I got my general one of the VE's asked me if wanted to test for extra.  I said no, and that i had not studied, he gave me a puzzled look and said "well you ARE going to get your extra correct"  I looked him in the eye and told him that I was going to get it.....Its funny but I couldn't get that out of my mind.  So I buckled down and started studying for extra.  Between that guy and this forum, you guys kept up the motivation for me to get it done.  

I'm so glad the testing is over and I can just get down into the nuts and bolts of different areas of interest....not to mention the special ARF "extras only" area.

Now start studying Morse Code. That's what I did when I finished my Extra. It's challenging.