Technician Exam Tomorrow

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Hey All,

I'm taking my technician exam tomorrow night. I decided to start studying to pass the time after I handed in my LTC app. If all goes well I should have my ticket soon. (Still no LTC yet)

Not that it particularly matters, but are these exams still a pencil and paper type deal?


-J
 
Yup. Paper and pencil graded on the spot by ham radio Volunteer Examiners. This is a hughe improvement over the stone ages not so long ago when you had to travel to the Federal Building in your state and the test was administerred by some federal employee.

Good luck! You'll enjoy amateur radio. As they say, it's not a hobby, it's 99 hobbies to choose from.
 
Thanks for the responses!

I've been banging out 2-3 exams a day online for the past few weeks. I had a pretty solid foundation of electronics knowledge, so about half of the questions I already knew. I spent a couple days with the ARRL training guide and chatting with a ham guy I work with, so hopefully I will pass.

I'll post after I take the exam.

-J
 
You'll have not trouble. Try for the General while you're there.

Do you have a radio yet?

Thanks for the responses!

I've been banging out 2-3 exams a day online for the past few weeks. I had a pretty solid foundation of electronics knowledge, so about half of the questions I already knew. I spent a couple days with the ARRL training guide and chatting with a ham guy I work with, so hopefully I will pass.

I'll post after I take the exam.

-J
 
Yes, try for the general while you're there. It doesn't cost any extra. If you don't get it, go straight home and start banging out the general practice tests. At 2-3 a day you'll be ready in a week. With a Tech license you are pretty restricted in what you can do: mostly line of sight VHF/UHF repeater stuff. Having your General gets you most of the HF bands that allow you to talk all over the world.

The old hams may disagree, but here's the advice I got and give. For now, just learn the correct answers and pass the test. Learn the rules well enough to stay out of trouble. Don't worry about the theory for now. If you stick with ham radio the theory will come with time.
 
Passed the Technician 34/35. Took the general and missed by 2 questions. They said not bad for not ever seeing/studying the general info. Good group of guys I met though. May head out with them for field day this weekend.

Thanks for everyone's comments on here.

-J
 
Congratulations! Welcome to ham radio. Definitely spend a few hours with them at Field Day. It's a great opportunity to learn operating.

Then, keep the momentum up and hit the practice tests and get your General.
 
Congratulations and welcome to the hobby. I took the general test years ago when they still had the code portion. I got a perfect score on the written test and missed the code section by 2 questions. It was not pleasant. I never bothered following up, but I think about it sometimes.
 
I never bothered following up, but I think about it sometimes.
It's a whole lot easier these days. No code. Just crank through a bunch of the practice exams at http://www.qrz.com/ht/. If you can remember a few rules, know Ohms law and can multiply and divide by 300 to figure out wavelength from frequency and vise versa, it's pretty easy. Come join the HF fun. The solar activity is great these days.
 
Thanks Bob. I'd love to. As I posted a while back, I got a th-f6a last year with the intention of getting back into 2 meters, but haven't found much activity on 2 meters, at least, not on the 4 or so repeaters you can receive from Metrowest. I'd be interested in a multi-band HF capable mobile rig for the truck, but only if I thought I'd get to use it once in a while.
 
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