License Difficulty?

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Dallas Dixon

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Lucedale, MS
I have been looking in this part of the forum for at least an hour now, and since, have been looking at handheld Baofeng amateur radios. I heard there are requirements to broadcast on HAM frequencies, such as a license, and I was wondering something. How hard and expensive is it to get a HAM license? Is there an online test I can take?
 
I have been looking in this part of the forum for at least an hour now, and since, have been looking at handheld Baofeng amateur radios. I heard there are requirements to broadcast on HAM frequencies, such as a license, and I was wondering something. How hard and expensive is it to get a HAM license? Is there an online test I can take?
There are also books by the ARRL ( http://amzn.to/2CNDNfV ) and the ones I used by Gordon West. ( http://amzn.to/2F10qng )
 
I've been reading through some of the ham radio forums and it doesn't seem that difficult or complicated, or even that expensive; it seems the main thing is that you have to know what is and is not allowed. I am thinking about it myself for a little later in my prepper journey. The threads here have a lot of good information.
 
My two cents worth (checks are welcome). All of the following is my opinion based on decades of voice and data communications.

Yes, the testing, especially at the entry level (Technician license) simply shows a proficiency in the basic rules. The entry level license covers quite a bit. (think of it as a tactical use license as the frequency spectrum is limited in how far it will propagate.) Handy talkies and mobile units usually fall into this category. With practice, either can be used to communicate via satellites over a large area or even the International Space Station. With a few evenings worth of study, you can get the entry level license and start learning. It would be difficult to practice without a license and unwise to have preps that aren't practiced with.

Not everyone in your group is going to be interested in Communications and that's fine. Not everyone is a farmer, solder, or shoemaker either.

The more advanced (General license) can be used to reach anyplace in the world by bouncing your high frequency (HF) signal off various layers of the ionosphere. This requires different equipment, and more radio knowledge because it can be compared to playing billiards in three dimensions. It isn't difficult to learn, but anyone who has been doing it much will be skeptical of those who think they will just pick it up in a moment.

For instance, the handheld radios run on very low power and are less likely to melt instantly when the operator does something wrong. If you key the microphone on an HF rig (even running 100 Watts) you will see smoke billowing out to remind you that the antenna connection is for a different band. Most modern radios have thermal protection against operator error, but I have seen the thermal protection burned up as well. In HF radio, it isn't unusual for the amateur to spend more on the antenna than the radio and if a person can't answer the question "Why would that be?" the best answer I can give is get a license, get an elmer (advisor) and get on the air. My current antenna is two short lengths of household wiring left over from a project and I've made contacts to Europe and South America.
 
I have been looking in this part of the forum for at least an hour now, and since, have been looking at handheld Baofeng amateur radios. I heard there are requirements to broadcast on HAM frequencies, such as a license, and I was wondering something. How hard and expensive is it to get a HAM license? Is there an online test I can take?
first off the test is 15.00 per test unless you take all three at one time, the catch is you have to pass all individual test before you can take the next test example: first you take the tech test if you pass the VE will ask if you want to take the general test if so it will be free but only at this session if you decline it will be another 15.00 at the next test session, if you pass the general again you will be asked if you want to take the extra test this test will be free at this session if you pass then you will only pay 15.00 if you fail it another 15.00 at the next test session so in reality you could do all three for 15.00 or go back later time then it could be 45.00 or more depending how many times you fail the test are in person in front of 3 VE but there are plenty of practice test sites on the internet if you have trouble finding any just holler and I can give a few site that will help you with the test the practice test are the exact same test given by the VE tech test are only 35 question and a min of 75% to pass, the hardest part of the test is deciding that is what you want to do. most people can study 30 minutes a day every other day for two weeks and pass the tech test or an hour a day every other day and pass the tech and general test. I hope this helped you a little.
 
My two cents worth (checks are welcome). All of the following is my opinion based on decades of voice and data communications.

Yes, the testing, especially at the entry level (Technician license) simply shows a proficiency in the basic rules. The entry level license covers quite a bit. (think of it as a tactical use license as the frequency spectrum is limited in how far it will propagate.) Handy talkies and mobile units usually fall into this category. With practice, either can be used to communicate via satellites over a large area or even the International Space Station. With a few evenings worth of study, you can get the entry level license and start learning. It would be difficult to practice without a license and unwise to have preps that aren't practiced with.

Not everyone in your group is going to be interested in Communications and that's fine. Not everyone is a farmer, solder, or shoemaker either.

The more advanced (General license) can be used to reach anyplace in the world by bouncing your high frequency (HF) signal off various layers of the ionosphere. This requires different equipment, and more radio knowledge because it can be compared to playing billiards in three dimensions. It isn't difficult to learn, but anyone who has been doing it much will be skeptical of those who think they will just pick it up in a moment.

For instance, the handheld radios run on very low power and are less likely to melt instantly when the operator does something wrong. If you key the microphone on an HF rig (even running 100 Watts) you will see smoke billowing out to remind you that the antenna connection is for a different band. Most modern radios have thermal protection against operator error, but I have seen the thermal protection burned up as well. In HF radio, it isn't unusual for the amateur to spend more on the antenna than the radio and if a person can't answer the question "Why would that be?" the best answer I can give is get a license, get an elmer (advisor) and get on the air. My current antenna is two short lengths of household wiring left over from a project and I've made contacts to Europe and South America.
I know almost nothing about ham radio, but--as a paramedic--I do have professional experience and training with EMS communications.

I am curious about something. There are repressive governments that engage in censorship.....so do they put out jamming interference to prevent an exchange of radio traffic? I would expect this in parts of the Middle East, North Korea, and--perhaps--The People's Republic of China.

Is this the case?
 
I am curious about something. There are repressive governments that engage in censorship.....so do they put out jamming interference to prevent an exchange of radio traffic? I would expect this in parts of the Middle East, North Korea, and--perhaps--The People's Republic of China.

I apologize in advance for the long answer.

Jamming is certainly a possibility, but an expensive one. A better answer for most repressive governments would be to monitor and track signals. HF is more difficult to direction find (DF) than the VHF/UHF transmitters because of the size of the antenna and the propagation paths for HF. During WWII, spies had to deal with cumbersome radio sets, and still made good use of them. When a transceiver powerful enough to reach anywhere in the continental US can be built into an Altiod's tin and run on a 9Vdc transistor radio battery, it will be an interesting game to play.

The main cost of an amateur radio is the receiver. You're trying to pick up a very weak signal. The strength of the received signal will always be inversely proportional to the square of the distance, so it is really saying something that my 100 Watt transmitter carries my voice clearly to Europe without a problem. 100Watts is pretty standard for HF communications and is called "operating barefoot". The licenses allow up to 1,500 Watts output and some make a sport of covering the entire continental US with 5 Watts. Any receiver has two critical statistics. Sensitivity and selectivity. Sensitivity refers to the ability to amplify very weak signals. Selectivity (lacking in cheaper radios) refers to the ability to differentiate the signal you want from other, nearby signals, static, etc.

FM radios enjoy a phenomenon called "capture effect" blanks out all but the strongest signal. In my rural home, two FM stations miles away are on the same frequency and as I move from one room to another, one station drops and the other is instantly there.

AM and Single Side Band are different beasts. In these modes, your receiver will amplify and present you with any and all signals within the "pass band". In the ham world, an AM signal is around 6,000 Hz wide and single side band is around 2,300 Hz wide to carry the same information. Really good receivers will have adjustable pass band filters so you can clip out nearby signals and any noise that is outside your target frequencies. A strong signal close to the pass band will overwhelm the receiver (The stronger the interfering signal, the further it can be from your target frequency). This is called receiver desensitizing and is the reason that someone with a linear amplifier on their CB radio renders the nearby channels useless.

To jam a signal, you need a transmission source that will overwhelm the receivers. The more of the spectrum you are trying to jam, the more power you're going to have to pump out, so jamming the entire ham radio spectrum would be difficult. Because in the history of radio, hams have come up with many of the innovations, the ham radio spectrum is also broken up into small pieces all up and down the frequency scale to allow experimentation in different propagation ranges. For this reason, jamming us, would mean jamming commercial and government radio as well.
 
To clarify receiver desensitizing:
I can recognize my wife's voice. Even in a crowded room full of chatting people I can understand what she is saying. The outside noise interferes with my understanding her as the offending voices get louder (or closer as this makes them received by my ears louder). It also depends on how close to my wife's pitch the offending voice is. A guy with a deep baritone could be telling me his best joke and I would have no trouble "tuning" his voice out and focusing on my wife's voice.
 
I have been looking in this part of the forum for at least an hour now, and since, have been looking at handheld Baofeng amateur radios. I heard there are requirements to broadcast on HAM frequencies, such as a license, and I was wondering something. How hard and expensive is it to get a HAM license? Is there an online test I can take?

http://www.arrl.org/ham-radio-licenses
 

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