Re: ARRL Requests Expanded HF
By: Ed Vance to Daryl Stout on Sun Mar 04 2018 05:07 pm

Why should Technicians try to upgrade to the General Class?

If you want to communicate voice (phone/SSB) over HF, a General Class license is (almost) a necessity. Technicians can only transmit SSB/phone on a little slice of the 10M (28MHz) band, that's it. See http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Regulatory/Band%20Chart/Band%20Chart%208_5%20X%2 011%20Color.pdf for details.

If you're only using UHF/VHF (or CW over HF), a technician's license may be all you want/need.

Since the CW Element for the Amateur Radio Exam has been discontinued
isn't the Written Test Element the SAME for the Technician and General
Class Licenses as it was in 1959 when I took the the Tech and General written exams?

No, the General Class test has more difficult questions when compared with the Technician's test. Here's a comparison: https://www.hamradiolicenseexam.com/which-exam.htm


digital man

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Rob,

No, the General Class test has more difficult questions when compared with t RS>Technician's test. Here's a comparison: RS>https://www.hamradiolicenseexam.com/which-exam.htm

Two comments on that.

First, when I took the General Class written exam, 5 months after the
FCC dropped the Morse Code requirement, I thought it was a piece of
cake...but I had been studying 2 hours a day for 2 weeks...and with HamTestOnline (the URL you noted).

Second, after going from Technician to General in 14 days, it only
took 13 days (studying 2 hours a day) to go from General to Amateur
Extra. I barely passed the Extra at the license exam session...but "a
win by 1 is as good as a win by 10".

Doing both courses with HamTestOnline was the best money I ever spent
in amateur radio. Both John Cunningham, W1AI...and his wife, Christina,
KT1NA (who went from zero to Extra in one sitting), "know me" -- I guess
I have a reputation. <G>

Plus, they offer the Amateur Extra course, a $35 value, FREE...if
you're a currently accredited Volunteer Examiner (with ARRL/VEC, W5YI
VEC, Laurel VEC, etc.), and have served at least 3 times in the last 12
months.

Had it not been for deciding to becomine a Volunteer Examiner in
central Arkansas (several years ago, they were literally begging and
pleading for VE's at a local hamfest), I likely would've still been a Technician Class licensee. In short, I upgraded not so much to operate
on HF...but to be a VE to help people get licensed, and upgraded. In
nearly 11 years of being a VE, I've done nearly 200 license exam
sessions.

Daryl, WX1DER
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