Ham radios . . . learn me.

[Beatrice]

I have not seen the new question pool for tech, however I cannot see it getting harder, 80% of all hams will never go higher that tech, and will use it as a upgraded level of phone communication over CB. And that is a good thing.
I would not worry if you do not have time before the end of June to buy and study the current question pool. Basically all the new pool will be is a technology upgrade to the current question pool. And at the Tech Level operation procedures and rules are more of the test than anything else. The tech and theory sections are so small you can wing them easily.
However if you have been studying the current pool, hey 2 weekends left before you have to memorize new questions.

[headhunter]

For what it's worth...

I suggest to any of you thinking about taking the test to just go for it.

In no way do I intend to minimize the efforts that anyone has made to pass this test, but to give you an idea of how easy it is to get through this process, I'll share my experience.

• Friday morning when reading Sarah's post about the test changing, I decided to start preparing and asked for someone to give me a "roadmap" to taking the exam.
• Mat (Materdaddy) posted a link to the test questions with answers only, as well as, a place to take practice tests at qrz.com.
• I printed the questions out and studied them once "very carefully," which took about 2 hours.
• I went to qrz.com and took 10 of the 100 practice tests they had and scored between 91 and 100 percent on them.
• I followed the link that Sarah posted to a list of places to test before the end of the month. One came up in Downey, CA that accepted walk-ins and was administering the test on Saturday morning.
• I gave them $15 cash, took the test and passed with 93.4% and you only need 75% to pass the 35 question test.

It took less than 24 hours from the time I "decided" to start studying until the time I was handed the Certificate of Successful Completion of Examination.

If I had realized how easy it was to get this done, I would have done it a while ago. When I hear "exam," I generally think about the Cisco exams I've taken for my network engineering certificates and expect to spend weeks or months in preparation.

So, why not make a decision to study for your Ham ticket today?

Here is something else that may motivate some of you to get this done.

Since many of our Hams have both mobile and handheld transievers (HT), passing this exam even if you don't have your equipment yet means that you can help out with communications on a run if someone would like to have you operate their HT. Without passing the test you cannot legally use the extra radio and the run may need to rely on a CB to establish communication between the leader and the tail gunner. As Roger and I learned when leading the Calico run, the CB may not be able to reach the back of the line.

Now that I realize how easy the process is to take the Technician exam, I want to encourage you all to just get your Ham tickets even if it may be a while before you have your equipment.

[COLOR="Red"]This has been a public service announcement that may or may not represent the views of MJR, those participating in this thread or anyone else besides me. We now return you to your regularly scheduled Internet programming. [/COLOR]

Christian

[blackZZR]

Christian, I m so proud you stepped up.
over 80 percent of the range of Ham is available to tech license. but more important, we can get bands that are crystal clear voice (phone) communication that works for all of us.
further study is for those of us who want to do world rf communications and the tech is the base of our hobby.
I think that you will find a world of radio in your class that can excell at any need you have,and if you want to go higher you will find the community supports you in every aspect you will try.