Ham Operator - Technician License Class

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Saw this at the Upland Club today.

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You going? I mean, its a little far for you to travel, but it might be worth it for you.[smile]
 
The club in Gloucester is giving their 1 day class on Saturday 10/29: 8:00 - 5:00. You spend the morning and afternoon studying and then take the test late that afternoon. Cost is $15 for the FCC exam plus $5 covers the course materials, coffee, sodas and snacks. Email to techinaday@caar​a.net or PM me for more info.
 
How old do you need to be for the Tech in a Day class? How is the studing done? I'm wondering if it would be worth an 8 year old going? Or, will it be too much for her? If it's just sitting there all day and reading, I'll never get her to do it...but if there's interaction, I might take her to Gloucester. Plus, there's a lot to do there if I take the whole family and let them run around while we're in the class.
 
Are there other sources for the "Tech in a Day" class?
There may be others, but the Cape Ann club is the only one I know of. They started doing it twice per year a couple years ago. They usually get 20-30 attendees and pretty much everyone gets their Tech license. Since it doesn't cost anything extra to try the General test, lots of people try that right after the Tech test and a few get it. Kids as young as 11 have gotten their Tech license there (Remember having a brain that actually remembers?).
 
How old do you need to be for the Tech in a Day class? How is the studing done? I'm wondering if it would be worth an 8 year old going? Or, will it be too much for her? If it's just sitting there all day and reading, I'll never get her to do it...but if there's interaction, I might take her to Gloucester. Plus, there's a lot to do there if I take the whole family and let them run around while we're in the class.
There are no age restrictions. However, it is mostly silent study. My older boy did it when he was 11, but he's mentally built for just that kind of thing. My younger boy, who's now 11 still couldn't sit through it.

What they do is after an introduction you have 45 min of silent study, then a 15 min break to clear your head. Everyone mills around and chatts. That 1hr cycle is repeated 3x in the morning, then we go out for lunch, then 3 more 45/15 sessions in the afternoon. Then the test. The course material is a booklet you get to keep and is basically the test question pool with the correct answers in bold. It is divided up into 6 sections for the 6 1hr study periods. The philosophy is: don't worry about the theory. Just learn the correct answers, get your ticket, get your 2M rig and get on the air. If you stick with it the theory will come on its own.
 
The philosophy is: don't worry about the theory. Just learn the correct answers, get your ticket, get your 2M rig and get on the air. If you stick with it the theory will come on its own.

I have mixed feelings about this idea. Memorization like this will get you through the test, but then you pretty much have to start over with learning how to actually be a ham. I did a one day class for a group of NESers a few years ago where we blitzed through the material for the test, but also covered a lot of operation and Q&A.

If you want to do the memorize the test method, I think the best way is one of the online practice test sites. Pick one that corrects each answer as you go. If you want to really learn, I think http://www.arrl.org/shop/Ham-Radio-License-Manual-Revised-2nd-Edition/?page=1 is hard to beat. That's what I used as the textbook for the class I ran.
 
I have mixed feelings about this idea. Memorization like this will get you through the test, but then you pretty much have to start over with learning how to actually be a ham.

The test criteria itself, and the doing away with code, has really dumbed-down the requirements of getting your ticket.
It may bring more people into the hobby, but many of them are less than serious about it.
Knowing the right answer is important, but so is knowing why the other answers are wrong.
 
I too have mixed feelings about just memorizing the correct answers. I would hate to see amateur radio go the way of CB. I'd like to think that the people that aren't serious don't stay with it, and those that are eventually fill in the blanks.
 
I'm not trolling. Seriously. And I am thinking of getting a license.

BUT, can you guys tell me why some of you think that government licensing is appropriate for radio use? I know radio spectrum is unavoidably a public good, while gun licensing, by comparison, lacks that element. But, at the same time, all I want to do is communicate with a few local friends and it's a little irritating that to do so might be illegal (however poorly enforced) without a government license.
 
Picture our roads without the drivers being educated and made to follow a set of procedures. Just doing what they want. Licensing is just a way of making sure the people know the procedures and standards of operating. And the license is something that can be taken away as a form of enforcing the procedures. Same thing for radio. Without it the airwaves would be chaos and relatively useless.
 
Picture our roads without the drivers being educated and made to follow a set of procedures. Just doing what they want. Licensing is just a way of making sure the people know the procedures and standards of operating. And the license is something that can be taken away as a form of enforcing the procedures. Same thing for radio. Without it the airwaves would be chaos and relatively useless.

OK. So I'm assuming one bad operator (user?) can screw things up for others pretty easily. Is that right? (and I'll do my reading on any further questions).
 
OK. So I'm assuming one bad operator (user?) can screw things up for others pretty easily. Is that right? (and I'll do my reading on any further questions).
Yes. One operator can literally and possibly unknowingly, become a nuisance that could impact operators in countries miles away. Possibly interfering with commercial broadcasts as well.

ETA. Maybe a license shouldn't be a necessity but there are other options that don't require a license.
 
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Aside from the licensing process affirming an operators knowledge, it also keeps everyone civil.
For the most part, the Ham community is self-policing.
Your call sign is public information, nobody is anonymous, everyone knows who everyone else is...........and where you live [wink]
A pirate operator, or someone causing trouble, usually gets outed pretty quick.
I know several Hams that have Dopplers, many of which were home-made, you can't hide from them for long.
 
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