so ive been lurking here for a while and watching my neighbor talk on his radio and i finally decided i want to get my ham license. i dont really know where to start though. like i know theres a test involved but i dont know what the test covers or how hard it is or anything. is there a book i should get or some website? i dont want to spend a ton of money before i even know if i can pass the thing. also not sure if i should just do the technician or try to do tech and general at the same time, someone told me you can do both in one sitting? anyway any advice would be great, i feel kinda lost

welcome to the rabbit hole lol. okay so first thing, dont overthink it. the technician exam is honestly not that bad if you put in a couple weeks of studying. the question pool is public, meaning every single question that could show up on the test is published online and you can study from it directly. hamstudy.org is what most people use these days, it tracks which questions youre getting wrong and focuses on those, its pretty good. there used to be a gordon west book that people swore by and its still fine but honestly the free online stuff is probably enough for tech.

as for doing tech and general in the same sitting, yes you can absolutely do that. once you pass tech they can just hand you the general exam right there. i did mine that way. general is a step up in difficulty, more about propagation and some electrical theory, but if youre already in study mode it makes sense to just knock both out. give yourself maybe 4-6 weeks of solid studying and you can do both. just use hamstudy for both pools simultaneously and youll have a good feel for where you stand before you go in.

yeah i just passed my tech like two months ago so im basically in the same boat you were in. i used hamstudy mostly and also watched some youtube videos when i didnt understand a concept, there was a channel i found that did a good job explaining the electrical stuff which i had no background in at all. the test itself was 35 questions and i thought it was going to be way harder than it was. the math questions looked scary but theres only like 3 or 4 of them and they repeat from the pool so if you practice them enough its fine. one thing i wish i knew was to check arrl.org for where the actual testing sessions are in your area because some areas have a lot and some dont, you might have to drive a bit or do an online session.