Ham Study Resources
For those of you who haven’t tested yet, there are many resources out there to help you study for the tests. One thing that is interesting to know is that all test questions are part of FCC published regulations. It is feasible to actually memorize the answers to everything, but I think that would be more work and certainly less educational than studying ham radio for understanding. Here are the study materials that worked for me. When I was studying for my Technician license, I used the Ham Radio License Manual to do all the studying. It gives a nice narrative explanation of all the laws, rules, and science around amateur radio. This book is available for around $25. You can also check out https://www.kb6nu.com/study-guides/ and you’ll find the no-nonsense ham radio study guides. These are short booklets that cover the bare minimum for each license. You can pay for physical copies or download the PDFs for free.
It worked for me to read through the technician guide after reading through the manual, then take some practice tests. Free practice exams are available at https://hamexam.org. Remember that if you pass your exam, you can take the test for the next level. You might as well do this because there is no extra fee for taking the next level exam. I ended up taking the next exam and barely passed, so got my Tech and General license on the same day.
The Amateur Extra exam covers a lot more material and I didn’t leave myself as much time to study, so I signed up for hamtestonline.com. This program costs money, but combines studying and practice testing together. As you learn, you’re constantly tested to check your retention. The system goes over your weak areas until you’ve mastered everything. After you can reliably pass practice tests on the site, you’re ready to take the real exam. I studied at least an hour a day for a few weeks before the exam.