Several times a year we offer an exam review class for people wanting to earn their ham Technician license. The class is FREE. This fall 2024 we will offer the Technician License Preparation Class two times:
Saturdays October 12, 19, 26
1 – 5 pm; (NOTE the change in ending time: 4 hour sessions!)
Clatsop Community College in Seaside (1455 N Roosevelt Dr.)
Everyone is welcome!
1/2 hour after the third class ends the test session will begin.
This class WILL NOT teach you everything that you need to know about the basic ham license. It covers the entire exam test bank, about 460 questions. Your exam will be 35 questions taken from that test bank. If you have a good understanding of basic electronics and radio then this review class may be all you need. If not, we strongly recommend that you do some studying before the class.
There are three components suggested for preparing to take the test review session and the test. You can do one or all of these, depending on your background and your personal learning style. PLEASE NOTE: these suggestions are resources that several of us are familiar with. SEARC is not recommending these resources over others that are available. The club has no connection (aside from membership in ARRL) with the sources of any of these resources.
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- .Watch a series of videos that teach the material. Again, note that we have no connection with these providers; they are videos that some of us have personally used and found helpful. If you do an internet search for ham technician training videos you will find a lot of them available.
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- Gary Wise, W4EEY, does a really good job of explaining the material. His playlist for the Technician exam is here: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ_9BZQ8gpziUWPBT3rOvSV6MCCeCaiK0
- Dave Casler, KE0OG, has been putting out a variety of videos for a long time on all aspects of radio. His lessons for Technician license are on the ARRL website, and can be found here: learn.arrl.org/courses?pathPage=%2Farrl%2Fcourses%2F36256 Dave’s videos follow the ARRL sections, but do not include the actual test questions, so you need a book or the practice test material found above to go with his classes.
- Another series that gets good reviews from folks I know is Josh
Nash KI6NAZ Ham Radio Crash Course videos.
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- Read manuals that explain the material one section at a time and then show the test questions drawn from that section. Ditto the statement above. We are not endorsing these books over any others. NOTE: If you purchase a book used (there are a lot of them available) make sure you get the one for the current test bank, 2022-2026. There is some newer material that is not in the earlier versions, and some of the questions changed.
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- ARRL Technician License book: home.arrl.org/action/Store/Product-Details/productId/2003373064
- Another very good book is the Gordon West Technician Class
Ham Radio Study Manual, that a lot of folks have used very successfully.
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- Practice Tests There are several websites where you can do practice tests. Some are free, some you have to pay for. They typically give you a choice of doing 35 question practice tests or going through the whole test bank. We recommend that you first go through the test bank until you are familiar with the material, then do practice tests.
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- arrlexamreview.appspot.com/ Register on the website, then choose the level of test that you wish to study for.
- ham.study/tech2022 One thing that I particularly like about this website is that you can see the explanation for each question if you want to, whether you got it right or not.
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- .Watch a series of videos that teach the material. Again, note that we have no connection with these providers; they are videos that some of us have personally used and found helpful. If you do an internet search for ham technician training videos you will find a lot of them available.
There are plenty of others in all three categories. Ask around if you know some hams. If you purchase a used book from someone, either make sure it is for the 2022-2026 version of the exam, or make sure that you are reviewing the CURRENT test bank after each section.
REGISTER for the class here The class is FREE
QUESTIONS about the class: contact Ellen, AA7EN, training@w7buhams.club
LICENSE TESTING:
There will be a testing session at the end of the third class for each session. You can also go online and test virtually from home. There is a team that I served on during COVID that I can recommend to you if you prefer to use that route.
To take the test you must have an FRN. If you are new and do not have an FRN yet please register here: apps.fcc.gov/cores/userLogin.do
Testing for all levels of ham license will occur 1/2 hour after the last class session. Registration for test required, ham.study/sessions/W7BU.
Author: Ellen AA7EN email AA7EN@ARRL.net