| HamCram |
| EMCOMMWEST |
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Get your HAM license in just one Day! Please read this carefully as it will answer most of your questions. This is a one-day review of all 392 Questions in the Technician Class question pool . The test is made up of 35 of these questions and you must answer 26 (74%) of them correctly. All answers are multiple choice. Last year a nine year old girl and a 94 year old man passed the test---so you can too! PRE-REGISTRATION IS STRONGLY ENCOURAGED SO WE CAN HAVE ENOUGH CLASS MATERIALS. You can sign up with dbook@gbis.com. If you don’t pre-register you may not receive the materials. COSTS: There will be a charge of $15.00 CASH to cover the copy cost of the class materials. The Technician test itself is an additional $15.00 CASH for a total of $30.00 CASH. Bring exact change and go to the head of the line! All children 12 and under must be accompanied by an adult. This is not really a complete class covering all the knowledge in all the questions. It’s a Review! We expect you to study the material beforehand. If you have studied on your own, there is usually a 90 or 95% pass rate. If you have not, your chances of passing are much lower! You have to do your part! We will begin the Cram at 8:00 am, break for a 1 hour lunch, and test at 4:00 pm. This only leaves about 1 minute for each of the 392 total questions. But all is not lost! Some of the questions are duplicates that are simply re-worded. Others have an easy answer (remember the 9 year old!). Many people say that it’s about as difficult as the written driving test---not too bad for an adult but you do have to study a little! Doors will open at 7:30 and we’ll begin at 8:00. Please be prompt and ready for class with pencils, highlighters, paper, and any normal class materials you need. A small calculator will be handy. We will break for a 1 hour lunch and probably take a bathroom break in mid morning and mid-afternoon. The test will be given at 4:00, immediately after we finish. The test usually takes about 30 minutes. Be sure to bring identification. If you don’t have a driver’s license, bring a school ID, library card, or something similar. If you are already studying for the test, note that the entire question pool will change after June 30, 2010. If you don’t pass after this review, you’ll only have until the end of June to re-take the test or you’ll have to start studying a new batch of questions. There will probably be additional tests in late May and June in the Reno/Carson area. Be sure to study the current question pool! The July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2014 question pool has been released, but it’s not in use yet! Study Tools There’s a FREE study guide available at http://kb6nu.com/2006techstudyguide.pdf. Just print out their 55 page “Tech Study Guide.” All the correct answers are in bold. You can’t beat the price! Free practice tests using the Real Questions are available at www.qrz.com/xtest2.html. My favorite guide is Gordon West’s The Technician Study Manual available from www.w5yi.org for $18.95 plus shipping. They ship fast! He’s reorganized the questions for logical learning and gives bite-sized explanations of the correct answers with a lot of diagrams and drawings. The Amateur Radio Relay League is the premier amateur radio organization in the
country and has the Ham Radio License Manual for $24.95. It has the most knowledge and in-depth learning in it but many people find it rather dry. However, you’ll find it a handy reference book once you get licensed! It’s sometimes
available in book stores or it can be ordered from www.arrl.org. The ARRL
also has a Tech Q & A available for Kindle readers that’s available from
Amazon.com. The ARRL also has an iPhone app available for the Technician License. It’s available for $1.99
from Apple’s iTunes “App Store.” Other Useful Information If you don’t pass the
test, you can sometimes re-take the test a second time by paying a second test fee but your second test will have different questions. Check with the VE examiners to see if they have time for re-tests. Otherwise, additional test sessions may be
held the next day or nationwide test schedules are available at www.arrl.org.
Remember that this session is only a review to pass the entry-level license test. After you’ve passed the test, you can legally get on the air but there’s a lot you won’t know! Try to
attend a “New Ham Class” while you’re at EMCOMMWEST 2010, join ARRL and a local club, or talk to other hams. Start with the person that encouraged you to become a ham! There’s a list of local clubs available at the ARRL website. This is a fun hobby
lets people engage in many different activities. Some people get into this for emergency communications, some people want to chat with people in foreign countries, some like to own a TV station or use “private” radio control frequencies. Others
like to use radios with their computers. We’ll give everybody a little information to get them started but you really need to talk to others and start really learning once you have your license. There’s something for everyone in this hobby.
For example, I started in Ham Radio so I’d have emergency communication in remote parts of Nevada and during Search & Rescue. I don’t even have a radio in my house, only in my car or on
my belt! But I’ve talked to people in Poland with the radio in my truck. I’ve been a ham since 2003 and have had a General Class license since 2007. After the testing, I’ll be looking for volunteers to help carry materials
down to my truck and see my “ham-truck-shack”! David Book, KD7YIM |