The Fast Track to Your Technician Class Ham Radio License: For Exams July 1, 2022 - June 30, 2026

The Fast Track to Your

Technician Class

Ham Radio License

For exams given

July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2026

Michael Burnette, AF7KB

with Kerry Burnette, KC7YL

© Copyright 2022 Michael Burnette. All rights reserved.

This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Dedication

This one’s for Michael’s electronics mentor

Rand L. Stover, WA6UOD (SK)

RIP, old friend, I miss ya.

The Fast Track Mission:

To create

masterful amateur radio operators.

The Fast Track

To Your

Technician Class Ham Radio License

Is available as an unabridged audio book

At major online audiobook sellers.

Over 14 hours of instruction.

Superbly well done! I finished the book in a week during my commutes and passed the test with no problem! Never even opened the official textbook.

Only ten days after I bought this book, I took the Technician Exam and passed!. I had no experience in Ham or radio at all. The explanations were very helpful, and the personal stories and humor were priceless.

Michael has a great voice and very interesting and humorous teaching style. I listened in the car on the commute to work for a few weeks.

The combination of the book and his free online test are an amazing system.

"For me, there is no other way, short of the author taking the test for me, that I could have better prepared to not only pass but rather, be GREAT at taking my Technician Class Exam. The manner and passion of the presentation has been a phenomenal foundation for my continuing journey of discovery of Amateur Radio and its amazing community!

This is the guy you want to narrate your private superhero journey through life. He’s filled with wit, knowing, and a caring about the material, the community, and the students he’s intent on setting up for success/fun in this ham hobby! Thanks, AF7KB!! 73"

Table of Contents

Dedication

Welcome to Amateur Radio and to Your Technician License Training

Chapter 1 - The Technician Exam Session

Chapter 2 - How To Prepare

The Fast Track Study Plan

About This Book

The Exam

Chapter 3 - Some Electricity and Radio Basics

What is Electricity?

It All Starts Here

Alternating Current

Radio Waves

Key Concepts in This Chapter

Chapter 4 - The Science of Radio Waves

Polarization

Frequency Ranges

Key Concepts in This Chapter

Study Plan

Chapter 5 - Wavelengths and Frequencies

Legal Amateur Frequencies

Power Limits

Key Concepts in This Chapter

Chapter 6 - The FCC and Communications Law

Key Concepts in This Chapter

Chapter 7 - Your License

Club Licenses

A Few Words About Call Signs

Key Concepts in This Chapter

Study Plan

Chapter 8 - Control Operators – Who's In Charge Here?

Types of Control

Key Concepts in This Chapter

Chapter 9 - We Pause for Station Identification

Key Concepts in This Chapter

Study Plan

Chapter 10 - Content You Can and Can't Transmit

Key Concepts in This Chapter

Chapter 11 - International Relations

Key Concepts in This Chapter

Chapter 12 - All Those Knobs, Buttons, and Dials – Operating the Equipment

Key Concepts in This Chapter

Chapter 13 - Basic Repeater Operations

Key Concepts in This Chapter

Programming Your Radio for a Repeater

Chapter 14 - Advanced Repeater Operations

Linked Repeaters

Phone Patches

IRLP

EchoLink®

Digital Voice

Digital Hotspots

Questions on Advanced Repeater Operations

Questions About Digital Voice

Key Concepts in This Chapter

Study Plan

Chapter 15 - Voice Operations Without a Repeater

Key Concepts in This Chapter

Chapter 16 - Non-Voice and Digital Operations

CW

Amateur Television

Digital Data Modes

Key Concepts in This Chapter

Chapter 17 - Public Service and Emergency Operations

Emergency Communications Organizations

Handling Traffic

Nets

Key Concepts in This Chapter

Chapter 18 - Operating Activities – Games Hams Play

Hidden Transmitter Hunts

Contesting

Key Concepts in This Chapter

Chapter 19 - Radio Wave Propagation –Part I – Down Here on the Ground

Multipath Distortion

Getting The Signal from Here to There

Key Concepts in This Chapter

Study Plan

Chapter 20 - Radio Wave Propagation – Part II – Up in the Sky

Ionospheric Propagation

Atmospheric Propagation

Key Concepts in This Chapter

Chapter 21 - Setting Up Your Station

Getting Power to the Radio

Computers in the Ham Shack

Grounding

Key Concepts in This Chapter

Chapter 22 - Electronic Principles – Part I

Electrical Units

Conductors and Insulators

Key Concepts in This Chapter

Chapter 23 - Electronic Principles – Part II

Inductance

Capacitance

Impedance

Key Concepts in This Chapter

Chapter 24 - Math for Electronics

Solving Conversions With a Number Line

Conversion Questions

Decibels

Key Concepts in This Chapter

Study Plan

Chapter 25 - Ohm's Law

Ohm's Law in Practice

Key Concepts in This Chapter

Chapter 26 - Power Calculations & Series and Parallel Circuits

Power Calculations

Series and Parallel Circuits

Key Concepts in This Chapter

Chapter 27 - Basic Electronic Components

Questions About Electronic Components

Key Concepts in This Chapter

Chapter 28 - Semiconductors

Diodes

Transistors

Field Effect Transistors

Integrated Circuits

Questions About Semiconductor Devices

Key Concepts in This Chapter

Chapter 29 - Circuit Diagrams

About Figure T-1

About Figure T-2

About Figure T-3

Questions About Circuit Diagrams

Key Concepts in This Chapter

Study Plan

Chapter 30 - Understanding Station Equipment

Key Concepts in This Chapter

Chapter 31 - Modulation and Bandwidth

Sending Signals with Sparks

CW – Continuous Wave

Amplitude Modulation

Frequency Modulation

Bandwidth

Key Concepts in This Chapter

Chapter 32 - Interference and Other Transmission Problems

Key Concepts in This Chapter

Chapter 33 - Basic Repair and Testing

Using Electronic Meters

Soldering

Key Concepts in This Chapter

Chapter 34 - Your Antenna

Antenna Basics

Key Concepts in This Chapter

Chapter 35 - Your Feed Line

Key Concepts in This Chapter

Chapter 36 - Antenna System Measurements and Troubleshooting

Questions About Antenna System Measurements

Key Concepts in This Chapter

Chapter 37 - Hams in Space!

Key Concepts in This Chapter

Chapter 38 - Electrical Safety

Key Concepts in This Chapter

Chapter 39 - Antenna & Tower Safety

Key Concepts in This Chapter

Chapter 40 - Danger! Radiation Hazard!

Questions About RF Radiation Safety Evaluations

Key Concepts in This Chapter

Performing an RF Exposure Evaluation for Your Station

A More Precise Approach

Mobile and Handheld Stations

Values to Enter in RF Exposure Calculators

Chapter 41 - Woo HOOOO! I GOT MY LICENSE!! …Now What Do I Do?

The Thrift Plan

The Deluxe Plan

Getting Started

The Jackass Factor

Before We Sign Off ...

Key Concepts in This Chapter

Chapter 42 - Bonus Chapter: The Radio Story So Far...

Image Credits

About the Authors

Thanks

Welcome to Amateur Radio and to Your Technician License Training

IT’S ALL AROUND YOU, ALL THE TIME. It’s a giant conversation – hundreds, thousands, millions of invisible messages, some going across town, and some going around the world. It doesn’t need the internet. It isn’t on your average cell phone – it doesn’t need a cell phone company. It isn’t commercial broadcasting – there are no multi-billion-dollar media companies run by accountants in this world.

It’s a conversation about trivia, about personal matters, about the traffic jam on I-90, about esoteric details of radio propagation or radio equipment; about almost anything, really -- and more often than you might think, it’s a conversation that makes the difference between life and death.

It’s a conversation conducted in Morse Code, in voice, in dozens of ingenious digital formats, even in television images. Some of it is bouncing off satellites owned and operated by regular people like you and me. Some of it is being purposefully bounced off the aurora borealis, off meteor trails or rain showers, and some is being bounced off the Moon.

It’s the worldwide conversation that is ham radio. And now you’ve decided to join that conversation.

Welcome!

This book is part of a complete learning system designed to make each step of your way into whatever grade Amateur Radio license you want as easy and enjoyable as possible. My philosophy is, I didn’t get into ham radio to suffer!, and I don’t think you should either. In addition to this book, there is an audio program, which is available from major online audiobook sellers. There are supporting videos on fasttrackham.com and, perhaps most important, there are practice exams on fasttrackham.com that match up with the chapters of the book and audio. We’ll talk more about how to use those in Chapter 2.

The FCC issues three different classes of amateur radio licenses; Technician, General, and Amateur Extra, each with its own exam. To get your General license, you must pass both the Technician and General exams. Amateur Extra requires passing all three. So long as you have a valid Technician license, you may choose to take the correct exam and upgrade to General or Extra any time you wish. Most testing sessions include people taking both the Technician and General exams, and sometimes someone going for all three. Other folks might have taken their General exam twenty years ago and have decided to move up to Extra.

Each grade of amateur license carries increasing privileges; in other words, you get to transmit on a broader range of frequencies. Each test is more challenging. How much of a challenge each part of a given test presents probably varies a lot by the individual and their background.

How far you progress in the license grades is completely up to you – there’s never any requirement to move up. More good news – there isn’t much snobbery about license grades in the ham community. You won’t be seen as some sort of junior member of the community if you carry a Technician license. (Nor will you be seen as some sort of superhero if you make the move to Extra. Sorry ’bout that.) Your Technician license certainly is not a junior license, either. You’ll have full privileges on any amateur frequency band above 30 MHz. You’ll also have limited privileges in some frequencies below 30 MHz, and you could easily spend a lifetime in ham radio exploring the world of the Technician class. Many hams do. The frequencies you’ll be able to use include the very popular VHF and UHF bands where the majority of local repeaters operate. These are also bands where you can make contacts via ham radio satellites and even talk to the astronauts aboard the International Space Station.

If all this talk of MHz and repeaters is foreign language to you now, relax. That’s some of the stuff you’re here to learn, and it really isn’t terribly complicated.

Obviously, you have an interest in amateur radio, and perhaps you even have a clear idea of what you want to do with your license. We’d like to touch on some of the activities hams pursue, just so you know some of the possibilities.

Someone once said, Ham radio really isn’t a hobby, it’s more like 28 hobbies! We’ve never counted to see if that number is precisely accurate, but it seems pretty close.

• Mobile Communications. Having a mobile ham radio in your car or truck means you can pursue your ham hobby during those hours you’re traveling. The most common radios for mobile operation are VHF/UHF dual band radios. We also can use handheld radios so tiny you can put them in your pocket. I use mine all the time and regularly talk on a repeater that is 20 miles or more from where I’m standing.

• DX. DX is a ham abbreviation for distance. DX is all about communicating with hams far away.

The definition of far away can vary a lot, depending on the time of day and the equipment in use, but generally it refers to working foreign countries.

• Contesting. There are contests just about every week of the year. The contest is for making the most contacts in the time span of the contest. Contesting is fun and helps keep contesters’ emergency communications skills sharp.

• QRP. QRP means low power operation. While we’re authorized for up to 1500 watts of power in most bands, some hams love the challenge of communicating with what seems like impossibly low power.

• Foxhunting. Foxhunting is a radio game of hide and seek! Can you find the hidden transmitter with your directional antenna and mobile receiver?

• Homebrewing. No, not beer – radio equipment. Honestly, modern ham transceivers (transmitter + receiver) are so sophisticated and complex, you’re probably not going to build one at home. Nevertheless, there are plenty of other projects that even a beginning builder can complete successfully. Many clubs have occasional get-togethers for a group build of something like a simple antenna.

• Speaking of clubs – you probably don’t realize it now, but one of the main reasons you are getting your license is to join your local ham club. Your local ham club is a great source of friendship and information. The national ham club is the American Radio Relay League, or ARRL. They are also our main voice in Congress and at the FCC. Want to find your local ARRL affiliated club?

http://arrl.org/find-a-club.

• Amateur television. We aren’t limited to just sending sound over the airwaves. There are two forms of amateur television, one for still pictures and one for moving pictures. We can also send faxes over the air.

• Digital communications. Amateurs were sending e-mail to each other over the ham bands long before there was a World Wide Web, and we use digital modes of all sorts, most invented by the ham radio community.

• Amateur satellites. At the moment there are about twenty satellites orbiting the Earth that are owned and operated by amateur radio operators, and once you have your license you can use them.

• Meteor scatter. Yep, some amateurs enjoy bouncing signals off the trail of ions left in the upper atmosphere in the wake of falling meteors.

• Aurora propagation. How about ricocheting a radio signal off the Northern lights? In the right conditions with the right equipment it can be done!

• Vintage equipment. Some hams enjoy collecting, restoring and operating old amateur radio equipment, especially the machines that use vacuum tubes instead of transistors. They’ll tell you, Real radios glow in the dark! The old vacuum tube equipment is impractical, unreliable, inefficient, difficult to operate, too big, has to warm up before it will work (even when it does), sometimes is impossible to get parts for, doesn’t have all the conveniences of the new stuff, won’t do some quite useful things, and – well – is just generally wonderful. At least some of us think so. We find beauty, tradition, and craftsmanship in the old radios and enjoy the challenges they present.

• Public service. When you have the skills and equipment of a ham radio operator, you become more valuable to your community. Whether serving as an auxiliary communication service at large public events or providing life-or-death emergency communications in and out of a disaster area, hams have a long and proud record of public service.

• Participating in nets. Hams had social networks decades before there was Facebook. Our social networks meet on the air, and can range from groups as purposeful and focused as an emergency communications preparedness group to something as wide open as a weekly Hey, how’s everybody doing? Some nets are local, some national, some global.

• Technical Experiments – If you have an idea for something new for amateur radio, the rules give us lots of room for experiments. Invent something!

• Outdoor Recreation Communications – Once you’ve experienced what ham radio can do vs. CB or other no license services in a wilderness situation, you’ll never go back.

• Emergency Preparedness. Some people want their license so they’re prepared for an emergency. If that’s you, we hope you’ll enjoy the journey to your license and that once you have it you’ll get out and practice your radio skills. Ham radio is not plug ’n’ play, and if it’s your intention to be ready for anything, you do need to practice in advance.

• Hamfests Hamfests are ham radio conventions. There are local hamfests, state hamfests, regional hamfests, and a national hamfest. The big national hamfest, Hamvention, is held in Dayton, OH every year in May. Most years we have a booth there, as well as at Pacificon in the San Francisco Bay Area, SeaPac, in Seaside, OR, and a few other smaller shows. We’ve also participated in every QSO Today Virtual Hamfest. Hamfests are opportunities to learn all sorts of things, both by visiting vendors face-to-face and by attending the many seminars and forums. You’ll also have a lot of ham radio fun. Most hamfests include a ham radio swap meet where you can find all sorts of treasures.

• Field Day. Every year hams across the country find their way to remote locations to operate their radios from the field. Often this is a club activity and besides the radio activities, it’s a chance to socialize and to introduce the public to ham radio. Field days are one big radio party, but they’re also a large part of why when the chips are down, hams are the people who know how to use a slingshot to shoot a string over a branch, use the string to pull a wire antenna into the air, hook up a radio to a car battery, and set up communications. (Some of us not only know how to do that, we’ve done it and think it’s great fun!)

• Youth. We hear a lot that there’s quite a shortage of people with STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering and Math – education. (Because making a living as an artist has become an intensely technical pursuit, most schools now include Art, to make it STEAM.) What better way to introduce young people to that world than ham radio? We’re science, technology, practical engineering, and math in the real world, and we’re ordinary folks having fun with it all. What a difference seeing that could make in some young lives.

That’s just a beginning of all the activities available to you as a ham.

Chapter 1 The Technician Exam Session

BEFORE WE GET STARTED on the preparation for your Technician examination, let’s go over the event for which you are preparing. Here’s how the testing session will go.

To find a place and time to take your Technician exam, you can visit the American Radio Relay League’s web site at http://www.arrl.org/. You’ll find a handy search page at

http://www.arrl.org/find-an-amateur-radio-license-exam-session.

Type in your zip code, enter how many miles you’re willing to travel to the session, and it will give you a list of upcoming exams and the contact information for the examiners. While you’re there, check out the rest of the site. The ARRL – American Radio Relay League – is our national ham club and their site is filled with information about the hobby and the organization.

We strongly suggest you find the time and place of an upcoming exam right now and commit to taking and passing your exam on that date. Let’s face it, you’re not going to get your license without some work.

I hope you’ll find the work – or at least the learning – enjoyable, but you and I know it is the nature of human beings to avoid challenges that we don’t perceive as necessary. So locate that test session, make your commitment, pretend that it is necessary, and you’ll be a big step closer to your ham license. We guarantee, the biggest single obstacle between you and your ham license is that commitment so make it today before you figure out an excuse to get out of it!

Over the past few years, I’ve heard from dozens and dozens of new hams – and more than a few not-so-new hams – who told me the advice in the paragraph above made a huge difference to their success.

All amateur tests in the U.S. are administered by volunteer teams of examiners. Each examiner is a fellow ham who has been certified (often by the ARRL) as a Volunteer Examiner. Most are Amateur Extra class license holders. They’re your fellow hams. They want you to succeed and they’re volunteering their time to make that happen.

Some testing organizations require you let them know in advance that you will be coming to their testing session. That way they don’t have a team of examiners travel to the test site and set up the room, then have no one come to test. Others welcome walk-ins. The requirements will be listed at that ARRL

web site. Even if they welcome walk-ins, it’s certainly polite to call their contact number and let them know you’re coming to their session. That call will also give the contact person an opportunity to give you directions to the site, review what you should bring along to the test, let you know the test fee, and probably help set your mind at ease. (They really are on your side.)

When you arrive at the testing location, it’s pretty certain you’ll be greeted by one of the Volunteer Examiners and directed to a seat. You’ll have some paperwork to fill out, and the VE’s will verify you are who you say you are. Here’s what you’ll need for the exam:

A form of legal ID. Your driver’s license or US passport will suffice.

Your FCC Registration Number. Having an `FRN'' is now a requirement for taking the exam. There is no charge, and you can get it online from the FCC.

https://apps.fcc.gov/cores/userLogin.do

Pencils and a pen. Pencils for the test, a pen to fill out your paperwork.

A calculator. Not required, and you can probably do the math on the Technician exam in your head or on the back of your answer form, but a calculator’s nice to have for double checking. If you are only planning on taking the Technician exam, any calculator will do, so long as it is not programmable. The VE’s will ask you to clear the memory of your calculator before you start the exam, so know how to do that. (That’s to prevent you from storing any handy formulas or answers in your calculator.) You will not be allowed to use your cell phone calculator. If you are planning to go on to Extra Class eventually and need to buy a calculator, we highly recommend the Texas Instruments TI-30XS. It lets you see all the steps of your calculations, is easy to use, has all the functions you’ll need (and way more), and is only about $20. When we get to the math sections, it’s the specific calculator we show you how to use. If you pick one up, take a peek at the fasttrackham.com Teaching Videos for some tips on using it. (If you plan to test online, you may not be allowed to use that calculator in the exam, so check with your testing organization.)

A relaxed attitude. This is optional, too, but remember: Those scary Volunteer Examiners have been through this experience themselves and they’re on your side. They’re your neighbors and your future fellow hams. They’re probably Extra class hams and had to take yet another test to be accredited as a VE. They will take their jobs seriously, and you want them to. If there are irregularities in the testing procedure, the FCC has the right to invalidate everyone’s test at the session (yes, yours, too), and invite everyone to retest. A clean test procedure benefits you. But under that serious attitude, trust me, they want you to succeed.

The test fee – currently about $15 but subject to change annually. There is a $35 FCC License Fee for new licenses, as well. You will not pay that fee at the testing session – the FCC will send you an email about how to pay, and you’ll have 10 days to complete your payment.

Once the paperwork is complete and checked, they’ll hand out the exams and the answer sheets, and you’ll take your exam. The exam is not timed. Take your time, read each question carefully, double check each answer and be sure you are entering the answer in the right spot on the answer sheet. You won’t be troubling anyone by taking your time. Those VE’s are expecting the session to last at least a couple of hours, and they’re committed to staying the whole time. In fact, by law they can’t leave the room while testing is going on.

If you really blank out on a question and just can’t come up with an answer, we suggest you leave the answer sheet blank for that one and go on to the next. Do be sure you get the next answer in the right spot on the answer sheet, or every answer from then on will be one off and you’ll miss them all. Your brain might come up with the answer later in the test, or perhaps you’ll get a hint from one of the other questions. Be sure to come back to the question and answer it with your best guess. There is no penalty for guessing, only for wrong answers, and a blank answer is automatically wrong.

The Technician exam consists of 35 multiple-choice questions. A passing score is 74% or better. That means you need to get 26 correct answers to pass. The questions are chosen from a pool of 411 questions covering ten broad topics, called subelements. The subelements are further divided into 35 groups. You’ll get one question from each group.

During the test, if you are given a direction by a VE, do it. FCC law requires that your exam be terminated immediately if you do not follow the directions of the VE’s. (They’re not going to direct you to take off your pants and run around the room. Relax.)

When your test is complete, you’ll hand it in and it will be graded during the session. Each exam must be graded independently by three VE’s, so it takes a bit of time. Then, someone will come over and – I fully expect – congratulate you, welcome you to ham radio, and ask if you want to take the General exam while you’re there. (It’s your choice, but it doesn’t cost a thing to give it a try – the fee you pay is for the test session, not per test.) In the wildly unlikely event you don’t pass your Technician exam, they’ll have a quiet – probably outside the room – conversation with you. VE’s are directed by their training to take pains to avoid embarrassing anyone.

What the VE’s almost certainly will not do is tell you which, if any, questions you missed. They’re not even required to tell you your score. Just pass or fail.

If you have special needs, such as a visual disability, mobility challenges, or anything else that would affect your ability to take and pass the test, the FCC requires that appropriate accommodations be made.

This might include someone reading the test to you, providing access to the testing site, or other measures.

Again – we want you to enter the hobby. If you want some accommodation, your part is to let the VE team know ahead of time so they can make the proper arrangements.

How long between this moment and the moment you pass your exam? Some of that depends on your earlier experience, a little of it depends on how much time you can devote on a daily basis, and 99% of it depends on your – here’s that word again – commitment to the process.

Important note: For the duration of the coronavirus pandemic and perhaps beyond, in-person ham exams will be quite rare. However, testing is still available by remote testing. This is not online testing, it is testing in the place of your choice with live Volunteer Examiners monitoring you in real time via Zoom or similar software. For information on how to take your exam remotely, visit:

https://kl7aa.org/vec/remote-testing/ or https://hamstudy.org/sessions

Chapter 2

How To Prepare

MICHAEL, AF7KB, HAD A RIDICULOUS HEAD START ON HIS TECHNICIAN EXAM because he spent close to 25 years in the broadcasting business. He’d spent years filing FCC forms, complying with FCC rules, and fixing cranky old radio stations in the middle of the night. He claims he could usually determine which end of a hot soldering iron to hold, and even knew Ohm’s Law. When he decided to get his ham license, Technician covered a lot of the same material he had studied for his commercial FCC license many years before. If you have that sort of background, congratulations, and we think you’ll enjoy putting all those hard-won skills to use in amateur radio.

If you don’t have years of radio or electronics background, relax. Seriously, relax. A few years ago, Kerry, KC7YL, had no experience with radios or electronics beyond tuning in her favorite commercial station. Today, she has an Extra Class license and is on the radio a lot, not to mention being the co-author of our training courses! Don’t tell your non-ham friends but this stuff isn’t that hard. A great deal of it is common sense, some of it is simple add, subtract, multiply and divide math, and the rest of it is mostly a matter of learning some new vocabulary.

You can do this.

We promise.

This book has about 40 short sections. If you learn one or two sections a day, you’re a month from having your Technician license. That seems about right, even though you could do it faster. Our advice is, take your time and learn the material – not just the answers – thoroughly. It will serve you well as you progress through the other licenses and in the hobby. Feel free to enjoy yourself along the way. Again: Ham radio is a hobby. It’s supposed to be fun. We are officially authorizing you to start enjoying the experience of amateur radio even before you get your license.

The Fast Track Study Plan

Set yourself a study schedule and stick with it. Daily study, even 15 or 20 minutes at a time, is far more effective than long sessions several days apart.

Start right away to develop the habit of taking written notes as you study – even about the easy stuff.

Part of effective learning is engaging as many senses as possible, and that hand-eye-brain connection is a powerful one.

There are many web sites and smart phone apps available that will let you take practice tests. We strongly suggest you stay away from those. As one of my music teachers once said, Practice doesn’t make perfect, but it does make permanent. Practicing being wrong will only create confusion. Learn the material, then take the online tests for practice. The fasttrackham.com web site has practice exams that match up precisely with the questions covered in each chapter. When you finish Chapter 4, go to the web site, make yourself an account, and take the Practice Exam for Chapter 4. When you finish the next chapter, go take the Practice Exam for that chapter. As you work through the Practice Exams, you’ll always be reviewing the last few chapters.

Treat every practice exam you take as an open-book exam. Never guess at an answer. If you don’t know it, look it up. There’s an index of questions in the back of the print edition of this book, and e-readers have a search function.

Every few chapters, you will have the opportunity to take a Progress Check. This is a 50-question sample of everything covered up to that point. At the end, the grading will give you some indication of groups, such as T1A, where you need to focus. The site has Group Drills that cover only the questions in a particular group. When you’re pressed for time, it also has Chapter Quizzes that cover only one chapter’s questions.

You should spend the majority of your study time on the practice exams, not just in passive reading.

Taking open book practice exams is active learning, and it is what will get you your license and a useful body of knowledge quickly.

If you’d like to learn a little about the research behind our study plan, check out the video How to Study for Your Ham License under Teaching Videos at fasttrackham.com.

About This Book

One of the challenges presented to prospective new hams by our testing system is, we think, inherent in the system itself. The exam covers quite a few different topics but is limited to 35 questions chosen from ten general areas. As a result of that structure, if you just study questions and answers -- and there are many resources for doing just that -- you end up with a bunch of random facts that don't really constitute a useful body of knowledge. Those random factoids will disappear out of your head about as quickly as you can walk out of the testing hall. Through our years of teaching we've found that for most people random facts are very difficult to remember, and even harder to use.

Another challenge is presented by the published order of the questions. Put simply, that order makes the learning harder than it needs to be. The question pool is just a warehouse of questions and was never intended to teach anyone anything. This book puts the subjects and questions in learning order rather than question bank order for, I hope, much easier learning.

We’ve annotated the questions to set them in contexts that are intended to make your learning faster, easier, and – most important in the long run – useful. I want you to wind up knowing enough to participate in amateur radio, not just walk around with a license! To that end, there will be material in this book that isn’t on the test. This is not the shortcut path to your license, but shortcuts can be dead ends.

Our commitment is to your success in getting your license, and in getting into the hobby, and we're not above using history, trivia, stories, and even the occasional awful joke to build a framework for your new knowledge so it sticks in your memory. That way you’ll be able to go out and use that new license. That’s where it gets fun. At the end of the book, we even give you a step-by-step, almost word-by-word plan for that first on-air adventure.

The Exam

Your Technician exam will consist of 35 questions, drawn from the official question pool. The test will cover each subelement, such as subelements T1, T2, etc., and each group within that subelement, such as T1A, T1B, and so forth. There are 35 groups, and you’ll get one question out of each group. So if you get the question, Which of the following is part of the Basis and Purpose of the Amateur Radio Service?, you won’t get the question, Which agency regulates and enforces the rules for the Amateur Radio Service in the United States?, because they both appear in the same group, and there will only be one question from that – or any other – group.

This book includes every question that could possibly be on your Technician examination AND every answer. All questions are from the official question pool for the test – not one word or number can be changed until a new test becomes effective July 1, 2026. The only things that will be different on the test you take for your