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Product Description

Get your FIRST ham radio license! Easy-to-understand bite-sized sections. Use this book, and pass the 35-question license test. Includes the latest question pool with answer key, for use beginning July 1, 2006. Designed for self-study and for classroom use. Intended for all newcomers, instructors and schoolteachers.This is the most popular introduction to Amateur Radio! The ARRL Ham Radio License Manual is your ticket to joining the ranks of amateur radio operators.Use this book to discover the appeal of ham radio. The Amateur Radio Service offers a unique mix of technology, public service, convenience and fun. Some hams enjoy communicating across the country and around the globe, making new friends over the airwaves. Others like to build and experiment with electronics, experiencing cutting edge technologies. Some use their radios and skills during emergencies or disasters when all else fails. And, today's ham radio gear offers possibilities for getting started at any level. Your first radio station might be at home, in the car, or small enough to take with you on the go.

Customer Reviews:

• Perfect resource for the Technician exam
  I've been interested in HAM radio for years and finally got around to taking the test. I passed the Element 2 Technician exam today with 100% thanks to this manual. It is much better written and modern compared to the previous versions I have owned. Everything you need to pass the exam is in this book and can be learned in a few days of studying. Now off to study for the General!...more info
• It just teaches to the test
  I really don't know whether to review this just as a test prep or as actual learning material, so I'll discuss it from both angles. As far as preparation for the Ham Tech test, it is easily 5 stars. I used only this book and missed just one question, and was surprised to have missed even that. It's well written and it contains the full pool of 300+ questions, which the 35 questions you take on the actual test will be drawn from. That latter fact alone would make it crazy not to study this book before taking the test. The downside to knowing all the possible questions in advance is that some of them are obscure far beyond the point of what a beginning ham is likely to know or have any interest in regardless of how much they'd studied.
  
  As actual learning material, the subject matter is so broadly chosen and much of it so shallowly presented that large sections of it won't be of any practical use to anyone. The problem is that it could easily take 800 pages to adequately cover all the topics on the test, even at a beginner's level. For instance, it talks about electrons, Ohm's law, circuits and electronic components but none of these things are discussed to an extent or tied in together in such a way that you could ever make any practical use of the knowledge. Pages are devoted to what seem to me strange, Rube Goldberg modes of communication, such as email through the radio (it seems that you still need a computer..), bouncing signals off the moon and so on, which are way beyond what I could afford in terms of equipment anyway. I had a question on my actual test about communicating through satellite but none about Morse code (the form of radio communication that's saved more lives than any other and the reason that I was taking the test in the first place. ) On the plus side, the chapters on station operating, repeaters and FCC regulations were fairly good and probably very useful to most beginning hams, though the book could have used more of such information. So, while the book does a good job of giving at least a glancing, cursory knowledge of seemingly every aspect of amateur radio, I don't really think that if fully prepared me in and of itself to use the privileges that I got with my technician's license.
  
  So, the book gets 4 stars, since my problem is basically with the test itself and not the book. In my opinion, they should really just save all the electronic stuff and less common methods of communication for later class tests and work on hammering home equipment and antenna setup, operations, rules and emergency procedures. They could even split it up into something like the older novice/tech class tests so as to be able to fully concentrate on the differences in equipment and operation between the HF and the UHF/VHF bands. Anyway, all of that said, there can't be any doubt though that the book is a must have for anyone wanting to take the test....more info
• Ham tech exam
  Best and only book for the amateur radio technician exam. Self studied with this book alone and aced the test....more info
• Required Reading
  Excellent resource, although somewhat choppy. Unfortunately, there are numerous typos and, in some sections, there is material that isn't related to the exam and/or doesn't provide necessary context. For example, the first section of the book deals with a cursory explanation of electronics. While the explanation leaves out a lot of basic information that would be useful, it also goes overboard the other way by getting into explanations of circuit diagrams, components, and component functions--stuff that the novice amateur has no use for, and which isn't on the exam anyway. Early on in my studies, before I got into reviewing the question set, I thought I'd need to really understand this material. Instead, I just wasted precious time that could have been better used. But, then, the author is an electrical engineer and just can't help himself, I guess.
  
  Use this book, along with Gordon West's "Technician Class" book, and you're all set to pass the exam. I passed my exam with flying colors doing just that....more info
• Great book for preparing to take the tech test
  Bought this book, read it and studied it for about three weeks and then took the test and passed with one question missed, and that was because I wasn't paying attention or something...I took the test in about 8 minutes and no problems thanks to the ARRL book for Technician class... ...more info
• Excellent and easy to read
  Trying to upgrade my Amateur license while working full time is tough, I needed a no-nonsense book. The ARRL people really did this one right to the point, examples of test questions, all written in laymans easy to read terms. Highly recommend this book....more info
• Good information and excellent test preperation!
  After pouring over this I was able to pass the Technician test with just one wrong answer! Writing style is easy to read, lots of images to help keep you enthused, and direct section references to test questions provided in the back of the book. There is enough detailed information to get you excited about several different aspects of Ham Radio. See you on the air! KJ4JWR....more info