so i've been interested in ham radio for a while now, my neighbor has a big antenna setup and got me curious about it. i looked up some stuff online but honestly i dont really know where to begin with the whole licensing thing. i know you have to take a test but thats about it. is there like a standard book people use or do you just use websites? also how hard is the test actually, i'm not great at electronics stuff but i can study if i know what to focus on. any help would be appreciated

honestly the technician test isnt bad at all, i was super worried about the electronics questions too but most of it is pretty straightforward once you go through the material a few times. i used hamstudy.org basically exclusively and passed no problem. what it does is show you the actual pool questions and track which ones you keep getting wrong so you can focus on those. the pool is public so the exact questions on your test come from it, nothing surprises you. i think i studied maybe two weeks on and off, maybe an hour a night. the hardest parts for me were the ohms law stuff and some of the regulations around operating privileges but even those click after a while. find a local club too if you can, a lot of them hold exam sessions and some even do free licensing classes which helps a ton if you like learning with people around

hamstudy is the go-to yeah. there's also the ARRL technician manual if you want an actual book that explains the why behind the answers, not just the questions themselves. some people skip that and just memorize the pool which works fine for passing but you end up understanding basically nothing about how anything works. up to you depending on what your goal is i guess. one thing nobody tells you is to look up where VE sessions are in your area before you even start studying, some places only do them once a month and it's annoying to be ready and have to wait around. the ARRL website has a session finder, just plug in your zip code