ok so I've been interested in ham radio for like a year now but never actually did anything about it. my neighbor is a ham and he's been bugging me to get licensed and I finally decided to just do it. problem is I have no idea where to start. like do I need to buy a radio first? do I study first? is the test hard? I looked at some of the question pool stuff online and some of it looks pretty confusing especially the electrical theory parts. I'm not totally clueless about electronics but definitely not an engineer or anything. any advice on how to approach this would be really helpful, I dont want to spend months studying if I dont need to

honestly the tech exam isnt that bad, dont stress too much about the electrical theory stuff. most people use HamStudy.org or the ARRL study guide book, I used hamStudy and just drilled flashcards for maybe 2-3 weeks whenever I had a few minutes. the question pool is public so you're literally studying the exact questions that will be on the test, there's no surprises. the math questions look scary but there's only a handful of them and if you learn ohms law and a couple dB formulas you'll get most of them. I passed first try with like 90% and I'm not particularly techy. find a local club and they usually run VE sessions pretty regularly, some of them do walk-in testing which is nice. and no you dont need a radio before the test, get the license first then figure out gear

yeah what he said about hamStudy is solid. I'd also add that the ARRL Ham Radio License Manual is worth grabbing if you like having an actual book to read through, some people absorb things better that way. the tech pool has 426 questions and the test pulls 35 from it so once you're consistently hitting 80%+ on practice tests you're probably ready. the electrical theory stuff — just memorize the formulas honestly, you dont need to deeply understand all of it for the tech exam. that comes later if you go for general or extra. one thing I always tell new folks is dont overthink the waiting period after you pass, your callsign usually shows up in the FCC database within a day or two now, used to take longer. your neighbor can probably help you find a local VE session too, that's the easiest way to get it scheduled