Michael Burnette - The Fast Track To Your Technician Class Ham Radio License

The Fast Track

To Your

Technician Class

Ham Radio License

Covers all FCC Technician Class Exam Questions July, 1, 2018 until June, 30, 2022

by Michael Burnette, AF7KB

All original content Copyright 2014, 2015, 2018 Michael Burnette. All rights reserved.

This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

This one's for my electronics mentor

Rand L. Stover, WA6UOD (SK)

RIP, old friend, I miss ya.

The Fast Track

To Your

Technician Class Ham Radio License

Is also available as an unabridged audio book

At major online audiobook sellers.

Over 14 hours of instruction.

Superbly well done! I finished the book in a week during my commutes and passed the test with no problem! Never even opened the official textbook.

Only ten days after I bought this book, I took the Technician Exam and passed!. I had no experience in Ham or radio at all. The explanations were very helpful, and the personal stories and humor were priceless.

Michael has a great voice and very interesting and humorous teaching style. I listened in the car on the commute to work for a few weeks. I also downloaded the free ham radio exam app by Roy Watson. Great for testing my knowledge. When I was scoring I the high 80s and 90s went in and took the test. Passed it first try.. Hoping he will release future General and Extra Class exam tutorials in the future. Thanks Michael!

Great condensed version of everything you need to know for the technician level of the exam. Good book to get you introduced to concepts without in depth detail. After going through this book and having a general understanding of parts and why they are needed, you can always dive deeper into another book to learn more. This book is a good balance of test questions and explanations.

The Fast Track Mission: T o employ effective teaching strategies to support learners in rapidly mastering the body of knowledge that creates the ham radio hobby.

It's all around you, all the time. It's a giant conversation hundreds, thousands, millions of invisible messages, some going across town, and some going around the world. It doesn't need the internet. It isn't on your average cell phone it doesn't need a cell phone company. It isn't commercial broadcasting there are no multi-billion dollar media companies run by accountants in this world.

It's a conversation about trivia, about personal matters, about the traffic jam on I-90, about esoteric details of radio propagation or radio equipment; about almost anything, really -- and more often than you might think, it's a conversation that makes the difference between life and death.

It's a conversation conducted in Morse Code , in voice, in dozens of ingenious digital formats, even in television images. Some of it is bouncing off satellites owned and operated by regular people like you and me. Some of it is being purposefully bounced off the aurora borealis, off meteor trails or rain showers, and some is being bounced off the Moon.

It's the world wide conversation that is ham radio. And now you've decided to join that conversation. Welcome!

This book is part of a complete learning system designed to make each step of your way into whatever grade Amateur Radio license you want as easy and enjoyable as possible. My philosophy is, I didn't get into ham radio to suffer!, and I don't think you should either. In addition to this book, there is an audio program, which is available on Audible.com, Amazon.com , and iTunes, and there are supporting videos on the AF7KB Fast Track channel on YouTube.

The FCC issues three different classes of amateur radio licenses; Technician, General, and Amateur Extra, each with its own exam. To get to General, you must pass Technician and General. Amateur Extra requires passing all three. So long as you have a valid Technician license, you can upgrade to General or Extra any time you wish. Most testing sessions include people taking both the Technician and General exams, and sometimes someone going for all three. Other folks might have taken their General exam twenty years ago and have decided to move up to Extra.

Each grade of amateur license carries increasing privileges, and each test is more challenging. How much of a challenge each part of a given test presents probably varies a lot by the individual and their background.

How far you progress in the license grades is completely up to you there's never any requirement to move up. More good news there isn't much snobbery about license grades in the ham community. You won't be seen as some sort of junior member of the community if you carry a Technician license. (Nor will you be seen as some sort of superhero if you make the move to Extra. Sorry 'bout that.)

Your Technician license certainly is not a junior license, either. You'll have full privileges on any amateur frequency band above 30 MHz. You'll also have limited privileges in some frequencies below 30 MHz, and you could easily spend a lifetime in ham radio exploring the world of the Technician class. Many hams do. The frequencies you'll be able to use include the very popular VHF and UHF bands where the majority of local repeaters operate. These are also bands where you can make contacts via ham radio satellites and even talk to the astronauts aboard the International Space Station .

If all this talk of MHz and repeaters is foreign language to you now, relax. That's some of the stuff you're here to learn, and it really isn't terribly complicated.

Obviously, you have an interest in amateur radio, and perhaps you even have a clear idea of what you want to do with your license. I'd like to touch on some of the activities hams pursue, just so you know some of the possibilities.

Someone once said to me, You know, ham radio really isn't a hobby, it's more like 28 hobbies! I've never counted to see if that number is precisely accurate, but I think it's pretty close.

Mobile Communications. Having a mobile ham radio in your car or truck means you can pursue your ham hobby during those hours you're traveling. The most common radios for mobile operation are VHF/UHF dual band radios. We also can use handheld radios so tiny you can put them in your pocket. I use mine all the time and regularly talk on a repeater that is 20 miles or more from where I'm standing.

DX. DX is a ham abbreviation for distance. DX is all about communicating with hams far away. The definition of far away can vary a lot, depending on the time of day and the equipment in use, but generally it refers to working foreign countries.

Contesting. There are contests just about every week of the year. The contest is for making the most contacts in the time span of the contest. Contesting is fun and helps keep contesters' emergency communications skills sharp.

QRP. QRP means low power operation. While we're authorized for up to 1500 watts of power in most bands, some hams love the challenge of communicating with what seems like impossibly low power.

Foxhunting. Foxhunting is a radio game of hide and seek! Can you find the hidden transmitter with your directional antenna and mobile receiver?

Homebrewing. No, not beer radio equipment. Honestly, modern ham transceivers (transmitter + receiver) are so sophisticated and complex, you're probably not going to build one at home. Nevertheless, there are plenty of other projects that even a beginning builder can complete successfully. Many clubs have occasional get-togethers for a group build of something like a simple antenna.