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Comment by edm0nd | Hacker News Reader

Been meaning to get my tech license. Hope to get to it eventually in 2022!

It's pretty easy to prep for, and pass, the technician test. The test pool is published online (with answers) for everyone to see. And the actual test is just 35 questions drawn randomly from the overall pool. So really, if you wanted to, you could just memorize the answers to enough of the question and have a chance of passing ranging anywhere from "ok" to "pretty much 100%". Now I don't recommend just memorizing answers without actually trying to understand the material, but I do recommend doing repeated practice exams in conjunction with your studies, that are based on the actual test pool, which will pretty much tell you when you're ready for the real test.

There are a number of sites that will generate a mock exam for you, drawn from the test pool, give you your score, and then let you generate another random test. Some sites keep track of your progress and let you do useful things like generating a test drawn only from questions you've previously missed. So yeah, again, if blind memorization is your thing, getting ready to pass this test is not hard at all. But I really do recommend making some effort to really understand what's going on and not just memorizing stuff blindly. But ultimately it's up to you.

> I really do recommend making some effort to really understand what's going on and not just memorizing stuff blindly.

I definitely second this. When I was “studying,” I just memorized the answers and got from Tech to Extra. I can access all the amateur bands now, but my understanding of the hobby is still minimal as a result. But I know how not to land a fine from the FCC, so there is that!

There are plenty of good resources on YT. The ARRL also has a number of excellent publications: the study guides are great for learning the materials on the tests, and the Handbook covers pretty much everything else you’d want to know in extensive detail.

I've been intrigued for a while, but I feel like I should be learning the theory and not doing a SAT-style cram course. Is there a recommended resource for that? I've got three weeks of vacation time coming up and very little else better to do.

That's a good question. A portion of the exam is just FCC rules & regs and operating procedures. That stuff is, IMO, fine to "just memorize" because there isn't much theory to begin with. The main part where there is some theory (at the Technician level) is some basic knowledge of electronics and just a hint of some stuff that would probably be covered in a Physics 101 course (electromagnetic radiation, frequency spectrum, etc.). I don't know of one consolidated course that covers that from a ham radio perspective specifically.

In my case, I'd been dabbling with hobby electronics for nigh on 40 years when I took my test, and was always a little bit of a physics geek, so I mostly just had to learn the FCC rules and procedures bit. The downside is, since my knowledge was cobbled together from many sources over many decades, that I can't give you a good reference to a nice, consolidated, comprehensive course on this stuff.

That said, here are a couple of books that might be useful for picking up some of the theory, without going overly deep. Also note that "going deep" isn't a Bad Thing, especially if you want to progress beyond the Technician level license, as the subsequent exams do require deeper knowledge on some of the electronics/physics theory stuff. You don't have to be an EE or a physicist to do any of this of course, but just be aware that the theory component does increase a bit as you progress.

https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Basic-Electronics-Softc...

https://www.amazon.com/Radio-Theory-Handbook-Beginner-Advanc...

https://www.amazon.com/How-Radio-Signals-Work-Sinclair/dp/00...

https://www.amazon.com/Basic-Communications-Electronics-Jack...

I can’t recommend HamStudy[0] more highly for getting licensed. I put the app on my phone last spring and used it to run through questions whenever I had some downtime. I was able to get my tech within a few days, and I used HS to upgrade to Extra. It makes the process painless and easy, especially for tech where the goal really is just to get your license so you can get on the air.

You can also use the HS website to find online exam sessions, which makes the testing process even easier.

[0] https://hamstudy.org/

The Ham Radio Village folks from DEFCON[0] and other conferences provide online testing once a month. Keep an eye on their twitter account if you want to do something online, but, if you look on ARRL's website, it's possible that you can find close to you.

It's usually under $20 to take the test, but, there are many times where you can test for free if you're willing to wait a few weeks.

[0]: I have volunteered as an examiner for Ham Radio Village for a few years now.

It couldn't be easier now. It's a 35 question test and it's given by volunteers and amazingly everyone seems to pass.

I was at a conference where some volunteers offered it, and about half the people passed -- not a surprise given that many people had only studied for 15-30 minutes.

I've studied radio astronomy, so it wasn't so hard for me -- YMMV.

I failed first try. (Some obscure antenna question) Paid another $10, retook it immediately and passed.

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