so ive been interested in ham radio for a while now, mostly because my neighbor has a big antenna setup and it looks cool, and i started reading about it but honestly theres so much info out there i dont even know where to begin. like do i need to know morse code? i thought you did but someone told me you dont anymore? and whats the difference between technician and general and all that. i took a practice test online and failed pretty bad lol so obviously i need to study but i dont know what the best way to go about it is. any advice for someone who is basically starting from zero would be appreciated

no morse code required anymore, hasnt been for like 15+ years now so dont worry about that. for the technician exam which is what youll take first, i really recommend hamstudy.org just do the practice questions every day for a couple weeks and you'll start to see the same stuff come up over and over. the question pool isnt that huge. there's also the ARRL technician manual if you want an actual book but honestly most people just do the online practice tests and pass fine. the exam itself is 35 questions and you need 26 right so its not like you have to be perfect. find a local club near you and they almost always hold VE sessions, some clubs even do free licensing classes which is a good way to meet people anyway

i just passed my tech exam like two months ago so this is fresh for me. hamstudy was what everyone told me to use and yeah it works, i studied maybe 30 minutes a day for three weeks and passed on the first try. the electrical theory questions tripped me up at first, ohms law and that kind of stuff, but if you just memorize the formulas and do enough practice questions it clicks eventually. one thing i wish someone told me is that after you pass you can just stay and take the general exam right there at the same session, costs a little more but some VE teams will let you try it for free if youre already there. i didnt know that and kind of wish i had studied a bit more beforehand to take a shot at it