so ive been lurking around this hobby for like two years now, my neighbor has a big antenna setup and he keeps telling me to just get licensed already. i finally decided to do it but i dont even know where to begin. like do i need to study a certain book or is there an app or what. i heard there are three levels of license? and also how hard is the test actually, im not great at math and i remember someone saying theres some math involved which kind of worries me. any help appreciated, i dont even own a radio yet just trying to figure out the license part first.

honestly the technician exam is way more approachable than most people think going in. the math is pretty minimal, mostly just ohms law stuff and a couple signal calculations, nothing you cant handle with a basic calculator and a few hours of practice. the question pool is public which is kind of a huge deal — theres only like 426 questions that the actual exam pulls from so you can literally just study the exact questions youll see. hamStudy.org is what i used and i think it's still free, you just drill questions until your practice scores are consistently above 80% or so and youre probably ready. theres also the ARRL technician manual if you want actual explanations behind the answers rather than just memorizing, which i think helps it stick better long term. most people pass the tech exam with two or three weeks of casual studying, maybe 30 mins a day. find a local club and they usually hold exam sessions pretty regularly, some clubs even do license classes if you want a more structured thing.

i was in the same boat last year, knew nothing going in. i used the Ham Radio Prep app on my phone and just did it while watching tv at night for like 3 weeks and passed first try. the math freaked me out too but its really not bad at all, maybe 4 or 5 questions on the whole test that involve any actual numbers. just dont overthink it. the test is 35 questions and you need 26 right to pass so you have a little room for error too which helps with nerves.