so ive been kind of interested in ham radio for a while now, my neighbor has a big antenna setup and it looks really cool. he told me i need to get licensed before i can transmit anything which makes sense i guess. but i have no idea where to start with studying or how the test even works. like is it multiple choice? do i need to know morse code? i looked it up a little and saw there are different license classes which is confusing, not sure if i should just go for technician first or try to do them all at once or what. any advice would be helpful, i dont really have a background in electronics or anything like that

okay so first thing, no you dont need to know morse code anymore, they dropped that requirement years ago so dont let that scare you off. the technician exam is definitely where you want to start, its 35 questions multiple choice and you need to get 26 right to pass. the question pool is public which is honestly the best part because you can literally study the exact questions that will be on the test.

most people use hamstudy.org or the hamradioprep site, i used hamstudy when i got my tech and it just drills you with practice questions until you start recognizing them. took me maybe two or three weeks of casual studying in the evenings and i passed no problem. some people do back to back tech and general but id say just get your tech first, get on the air, and then study for general when you feel ready. no rush honestly

i was in the same boat about a year ago lol. i used the gordon west tech study book which some people swear by but honestly hamstudy dot org is probably better just because its free and tracks your progress. the hardest part for me was the electrical theory stuff like ohms law and reading simple circuits but theres youtube videos that explain it pretty well if you just search for technician license exam prep or whatever.

also check if there are any ham clubs in your area because a lot of them do free license classes and sometimes even pay for your first exam session which is normally like 15 bucks. my local club did a one day cram session on a saturday and like half the people there passed that same day at the testing session afterwards. good luck, its not as hard as it looks