so ive been interested in ham radio for a while now, mostly because my neighbor got into it and it seems really cool but also kind of overwhelming. i looked up stuff online and theres like the technician license and then general and extra? i dont really understand which one i need to get first or if i can just skip to a harder one. also is the test hard? i took a practice test somewhere and failed pretty bad lol but i didnt really study either so maybe thats on me

anyway if anyone has resources they actually used and liked that would be great. i found something called hamstudy.org but idk if thats the best thing or if theres better options. also how do i find where to take the actual test, the ARRL website kind of confused me

okay so first thing — you cant skip technician, everyone has to start there no matter what. the tests build on each other and you have to hold tech before you can upgrade to general. some people do tech and general back to back at the same session which is totally allowed if youre feeling confident but most people just do one at a time.

hamstudy.org is honestly what most people use and its pretty solid, just drill the practice questions until youre consistently hitting like 85% or better and youll be fine on the real thing. the actual test is 35 questions and you need 26 right to pass, the question pool is public so theres no surprises. gordon west study guides are also popular if you want something more structured but i just used hamstudy myself and passed first try without too much stress. for finding a test session go to the ARRL exam search or look up your local ham club, a lot of clubs run VE sessions pretty regularly and some are even doing online testing now through a couple different organizations

I literally just got my tech ticket like two months ago so I remember exactly how lost I felt at first. hamstudy is what I used and I passed no problem, but the thing that actually helped me the most was just doing the flash cards over and over every day on my phone when I had a few minutes. took me about three weeks of casual studying. the electrical theory stuff tripped me up at first, the formulas and ohms law stuff, but once you get a feel for it its not so bad. good luck with it