so i've been interested in ham radio for probably a year now, my neighbor has a big antenna setup and it got me curious. i finally decided i want to actually do this but i have no idea where to begin. like i know there's different license levels but i dont really understand which one to go for first or how hard the test actually is. i looked at some study guides online and it seemed really overwhelming with all the technical stuff. do most people just memorize the question pool or do you actually need to understand all of it? and how long does it realistically take to study before taking the test, i dont want to walk in totally unprepared

honestly the technician exam is way more approachable than it looks at first. the question pool is publicly available and thats basically all thats on the test, so a lot of people just grind through it on hamstudy.org until they're consistently hitting like 80-85% and then go take it. that said i think actually understanding the material helps a lot with general and extra down the road, especially the electrical theory stuff. took me about 3 weeks of casual studying maybe 20-30 min a night before i felt ready. the ARRL technician study guide is decent if you like books but honestly the free sites do the job just as well. just find a local club doing a test session and sign up, the VE teams are usually pretty welcoming to first timers

yeah hamstudy is what everyone uses, i passed tech and general back to back same day which i wasnt even planning to do but i had some extra time and figured why not. the test questions really do come straight from the pool so once you can pass the practice tests reliably you're probably fine. the hardest part honestly was just finding a test session near me, check the ARRL website for that. oh and bring two forms of ID i almost forgot that part