so ive been interested in ham radio for a while now, my neighbor is licensed and he keeps telling me to just go get my ticket already. i finally decided to actually do it but honestly i dont even know where to begin. like do i need to memorize all the questions or is there some actual learning involved? i heard the question pool is public but i dont really understand what that means. also how hard is the test actually, i work full time and dont have a ton of time to study. any advice would be helpful i guess

honestly it's not that bad, i was in the same spot about two years ago. the question pool being public means the actual test questions are all available ahead of time, so you can literally study the exact questions you'll see. i used hamstudy.org and just did practice tests every night for like two weeks, maybe 20 minutes a day and passed no problem. the technician exam is 35 questions and you need 26 right so theres a bit of room to miss some. dont stress too much about understanding every single concept at first, some of the electrical theory stuff makes more sense after you actually start using the radio anyway

hamstudy is fine but if you want to actually understand what youre learning and not just memorize answers, the ARRL Ham Radio License Manual is worth picking up. its like $30 and walks you through everything. i know some people just flashcard their way through and pass fine but then they get on the air and have no idea whats going on, so depends what you want out of it. also check if theres a local club near you, a lot of them run free licensing classes and have volunteer examiners so you can take the test right there at the end of the class. finding my local club was honestly the best thing i did when i was starting out