How to Get a Ham Radio License

The Federal Communications Commission has recently updated its regulations governing Amateur Radio (a.k.a. Ham Radio) operations within the united states. The FCC has eliminated the Morse Code requirement for all classes of Amateur Radio License, a requirement which many had considered to be a barrier to interested people joining this richly diverse hobby. If you have considered obtaining a ham radio license, or are hearing about Ham Radio for the first time, here is a step by step guide to getting involved in the hobby. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Ham Radio, it is a worldwide non-professional radio service that allows hobbyists to contact one another via the medium of radio. The hobby promotes technology experimentation and emergency preparedness, and Ham Radio operators are responsible for more than a few of the great technology advances seen in the past century.

The requirements for a ham radio license arefairly basic. While there are three license classes, with higher license classes granting increased frequency privileges, the basic license class, the Technician Class, is fairly basic to obtain. To obtain this entry-level license, one must pass a multiple choice examination on basic radio and electronics theory, rules and regulations, and basic station setup and safety. While some of those terms might be intimidating if you are coming to the hobby without a technical background, rest assured that the exam is extremely basic and accessible to anyone who is willing to put in a modicum of study for the exam.

The first step in preparing for the exam is to pick up a study guide that will prepare oneself for the exam. The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) publishes study guides that are designed to take someone from a complete lack of any electronics knowledge to being prepared to take the examination for the Technician Class license. You can visit the American Radio Relay League's site here to obtain a license manual.