Ham Radio Class
What is ham radio and who are ham radio operators? It isn’t just the old guy down the street with the funny antenna on his roof, it’s kids from 8 to 80, and it’s people talking down the block, across the state, across the country, and around the world. These people are men and women who are students, artists, lawyers, engineers, doctors, truck drivers, actors, singers, senators, teachers, and so on. “Talking” includes more than just a number of voice modes, it also includes Morse code, imagery (slow and fast scan TV, facsimile), and a growing collection of digital modes – many of which can be used by simply downloading free software for your computer and hooking it to your radio. It’s friends in different countries, who may never have met face-to-face, having an afternoon chat; it’s tracking a fast moving amateur satellite across the sky, bouncing a signal off the moon, or talking to the International Space Station; it’s the highly organized efforts of volunteers who train year ‘round so when 9/11 occurred, or the hurricanes devastated the Caribbean and Florida, or the Asian Tsunami hit, that there was a viable emergency communications network and trained communicators that could step in to provide support; it’s the bedlam of a weekend radio contest, where everyone in the world is trying to talk to as many other participants as they can; it’s the low power experimenter trying to see how far he can get with a watt or less. It is a hobby that continues to grow from its inception in the days of spark transmitters, to the modern era, where most sailors around the globe get their e-mail over a system developed by a pair of German hams.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) defines the amateur radio service principles as:
(a) Recognition and enhancement of the value of the amateur service to the public as a voluntary noncommercial communication service, particularly with respect to providing emergency communications.
(b) Continuation and extension of the amateur’s proven ability to contribute to the advancement of the radio art.
(c) Encouragement and improvement of the amateur service through rules which provide for advancing skills in both the communications and technical phases of the art.
(d) Expansion of the existing reservoir within the amateur radio service of trained operators, technicians, and electronics experts.
(e) Continuation and extension of the amateur’s unique ability to enhance international goodwill.
To this end, we in the U.S. are afforded by Part 97 of the FCC rules the shared use of a number of frequency bands scattered across a wide swath of spectrum that exhibits widely varying methods of propagation and very different requirements for transmitting and receiving equipment and antennas. To be able to operate in these frequency bands, we are required to hold an amateur license and currently there are three classes of license offered: Technician, General, and Extra. The Technician class license has no Morse code requirement; while the General and Extra class licenses require passing a 5 word per minute Morse code exam. In addition, existing license holders of the Novice, Technician-Plus, and Advanced class licenses are allowed to continue renewing their licenses. The FCC also allows Technician class licensees who pass the Element 1 Morse code test (5 WPM) to utilize the Novice class frequency allocations – the equivalent of the previous Technician-Plus license.
The following pages are dedicated to getting you to pass your exam and join this unique and ever changing hobby. They are a result of assisting one guy in my office get his license (he went from nothing to General class in one day, missing Extra by one question, but passing that exam a month later). This generated interest amongst others in his group, and the next thing I knew, I was teaching a ham class at lunch once a week, with people from three different areas in our complex. Three of the attendees already have their Technician licenses, and one is studying Morse code. All three are still regular attendees to classes. These classes were taught to scientists and engineers, so I already assumed they had some background in math and science. These pages started out as PowerPoint slides I talked to in class. In the following pages, I will try to fill in details as I get the time when things might be too much of a leap of faith from simple graphics. The class was not structured to be for a specific license class, or to address the exams or rules directly. As you will see below, those materials are already available from a number of online resources – this is an attempt to provide background and understanding in various phases of amateur operations that are the basis of questions asked on all exams.
Technician and General written exams exist of 35 (50 for Extra) multiple-choice questions that are chosen from a “question pool” which is updated on a regular basis. You will note that exam questions are numbered in a manner like T1A01, T1A02, etc… The “T” means it is a Technician exam (Element 2), the “1” is the first of ten sub elements, and the “A” designates a group of similar topical items. One question is picked from each group for use on the exam, so that for example, you would not have an exam that is nothing but questions on operating frequency limits. A passing grade is 26 correct answers for the Technician and General exams, and 37 correct answers for the Extra exam. The question pools are published, along with the correct answers, and can be found in a number of places on the web, as well as in printed study guides. One place to find the question pools is at the Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL) site at: http://www.arrl.org/arrlvec/pools.html
The basis for a number of these questions on any of the exams is the FCC rules that govern the amateur radio service, commonly referred to as Part 97, which can be viewed as a series of web pages at: http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/regulations/news/part97/ or downloaded as a complete PDF file from: http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/regulations/news/part97/part97.pdf
I recommend that everyone planning on taking an amateur exam completely read through the rules at least once. You don’t have to memorize them; you just need to be familiar with them. It will help you understand the basis for the answers to the questions. Questions in the pool that are related to the rules cite which paragraph in the rules apply – it may be helpful to go back and review the appropriate paragraph if you don’t understand an answer.
One of the great values of the internet is the availability of information and software at the touch of a finger. There are exam training programs (free and for fee) that let you practice taking exams just by sitting down in front of your computer. A great example of one such program is the online exams offered by QRZ.com at: http://www.qrz.com/p/testing.pl
Examinations for licensing are offered by a number of volunteer-examiner coordinators (VEC) in various places around the country virtually every week of the year. To find a test location near you, try one of the following sites:
http://www.arrl.org/arrlvec/examsearch.phtml
What should you bring to an exam? The following list should be appropriate for most VECs:
1. A photo ID (or two non-photo ID's). A driver's license is the most common form of ID used. Be sure your non-photo IDs have your current address.
2. Your Social Security number or FCC Registration Number (FRN). Failure to provide a SSN or FRN number will delay or prevent your application from being processed. The easiest thing to do, if you don’t already have one, is to obtain an FRN online at: https://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/cores/CoresHome.html (this server has been known to crash – if you can’t connect, just enter the main FCC website ( http://www.fcc.gov/ ) and look for the FRN link). You cannot do business with the FCC unless you have an FRN, and your exam application will include a request for one. If you already have one, it will speed things along.