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vesicularThis past weekend I took my Amateur Radio license test. I've been studying off and on for a while now, and decided to stop studying and get the test over with. There are 4 different tests for 3 different classes of license. I of course was going for the first test and first license.
It's not an overly complex test. It's 35 questions, all multiple choice, pulled from a large pool of possible questions that you can see online (and study from). I bought a book to read through to study for, but the biggest problem I faced was many of the questions on the test were from the couple chapters I skimmed over. Uh oh. I was sorta worried.
Still I didn't have much to worry about. To fail you had to get 10 or more questions wrong, and I only had 6 wrong. So I passed! After this the guy doing the exams asked me if I wanted to take the next level test. I said I hadn't studied for it and probably should wait. His response was that it was free and gives me practice and who knows, perhaps I'd pass it.
So I tried it. And bombed horribly. But I knew I would after the first question, it was much harder. Still no matter, I was about to get my Amateur license! They had to send the results of the test into the FCC and after a couple days (they said Thurs) I would get my call sign and would be able to transmit.
So I checked the FCC database today, just for the hell of it, not thinking they'd have approved my license already, but sure enough there it was. I'm officially a Ham. Call sign KCØZCR.
I have a Technician's License, which basically gives me access to various small bands of frequencies in the 6m-13cm (50Mhz-2.45Ghz) range. Basically the VHF/UHF spectrum (which you may be familiar with, all TV channels as well as FM radio fall in this range). Of course I don't get all of it, just small subsets that are reserved for Ham Radio. If I were to upgrade my license, by passing the other tests, I could operate on more bands on both higher and lower frequencies (for example, the next class license, which is the test I bombed, gives access to HF, where most of Shortwave Radio resides).
Anyway, it's all pretty cool. I should get my official license in the mail from the FCC soon. It was nice to set a small goal like this and achieve it. Now all I need is a radio so I can start transmitting. :/
It's not an overly complex test. It's 35 questions, all multiple choice, pulled from a large pool of possible questions that you can see online (and study from). I bought a book to read through to study for, but the biggest problem I faced was many of the questions on the test were from the couple chapters I skimmed over. Uh oh. I was sorta worried.
Still I didn't have much to worry about. To fail you had to get 10 or more questions wrong, and I only had 6 wrong. So I passed! After this the guy doing the exams asked me if I wanted to take the next level test. I said I hadn't studied for it and probably should wait. His response was that it was free and gives me practice and who knows, perhaps I'd pass it.
So I tried it. And bombed horribly. But I knew I would after the first question, it was much harder. Still no matter, I was about to get my Amateur license! They had to send the results of the test into the FCC and after a couple days (they said Thurs) I would get my call sign and would be able to transmit.
So I checked the FCC database today, just for the hell of it, not thinking they'd have approved my license already, but sure enough there it was. I'm officially a Ham. Call sign KCØZCR.
I have a Technician's License, which basically gives me access to various small bands of frequencies in the 6m-13cm (50Mhz-2.45Ghz) range. Basically the VHF/UHF spectrum (which you may be familiar with, all TV channels as well as FM radio fall in this range). Of course I don't get all of it, just small subsets that are reserved for Ham Radio. If I were to upgrade my license, by passing the other tests, I could operate on more bands on both higher and lower frequencies (for example, the next class license, which is the test I bombed, gives access to HF, where most of Shortwave Radio resides).
Anyway, it's all pretty cool. I should get my official license in the mail from the FCC soon. It was nice to set a small goal like this and achieve it. Now all I need is a radio so I can start transmitting. :/
no subject
Date: 2006-12-12 06:05 am (UTC)