Getting Started

[wb7sgl]

One of our site members sent me a private message asking how to get started in Amateur Radio and Emergency Communications. So I decided to put my noggin to work and assemble a list. The foundation to getting started in Emergency Communications is being a licensed Amateur Radio operator. So I created a list about getting licensed.

If you're not a ham, and are reading this list, don't be overwhelmed. I have tried to present the list in the simplest terms, it looks like a lot, but it's not that bad... Really! (Heck, I did it! You can too!)

Ten Twelve step list to getting started in Ham Radio

1 ) You're reading this list, great start!
2 ) Go get that FCC ULS number early and Print It Out. You'll need this when you take the test and it must be correct or your license will be delayed significantly. 
3 ) Decide how are you going to do this:
    a ) Contact your Emergency Communications Specialist (Ward or Stake), They'll probably know of someone holding or starting a class.
    b ) Visit a club and get help?
    c )  Do it yourself?
4 ) Study. Bum a study guide from someone who's recently passed the test. Or buy a study guide ARRL or Gordon West ($20-$25)
5 ) Take practice tests.  The actual questions from the FCC pool are used to generate realistic practice tests. The only thing missing is the tension in the air and the pencil erasing that you'll hear during the actual test.
6 ) Find a test session. Be sure and contact the registered contact if you're planning on just walking into a test session so they know to have enough testing supplies.
7 ) Take the test (The license testing fee is $14. There is no license fee for the FCC. Keeping tabs? So far you may have spent up to a whopping $40 at this point...) (Please note, incase they don't tell you this at the test session, DO NOT use your SSN on the license application, USE the FRN from step #2 above)
8 ) Passed the test? WOO HOO! Take the General Test too... At no extra cost! Did you pass that? WOW! WOO HOO!  Take the Extra test too! At no extra cost! Did you pass the Extra Test too? You're some kind of genius!
9 ) Cellebrate!!!
10 ) Patiently wait for your FCC license. This usually takes about two weeks. You can monitor the progress on the FCC ULS website by searching for yourself. Your paper license will arrive 2-3 days after the callsign is assigned in the system. Once you're assigned a callsign, you can legally operate.
11 ) Get on the air for free using Echolink or go buy a radio HRO or AES  Stay far away from eBay for ham gear!!!
12 ) Join the ARRL. Without the ARRL, the hobby of amateur radio would have shrunk and died out long ago. Individually, we are 300,000 different voices blowing in the wind. The FCC doesn't hear us. Legislature doesn't hear us. But by culminating our voices into a representative like the ARRL, our voices are indeed heard. The ARRL goes to bat to defend us from frequency loss, new technologies causing interference (Like BPL) and fighting for extending our rights with things like Municipal and HOA restrictions that effect our ability to take part in the hobby. 

If anyone can think of something I missed, feel free to post it below...