The ARRL Ham Radio License Manual Paperback – November 1, 2010

This book is great. I decided to get my Ham license in order to be legal using 2-meter band radios while off roading in my Jeep. This book prepares you to take the Technicians exam, which is the entry level Ham. The book is well thought out, gives the background for each of the elements that will be tested, such as basic electronics, basic wave theory, radio procedures, protocols, safety, etc. Simple language, easy to understand. Each chapter identifies questions that will appear in the test so you will understand the context of the question and the solution. The back of the book has all 396 questions and answers in the test pool, and references the section in the study guide that covered each specific area. Best of all, the book contains a CD with all of the test questions and a simple management software tool to test yourself. You can take as many practice tests as you want. As an option, you can have the program give you instant feedback on your response, point you at the text and give you a quick review of the theory or context behind the question. Besides practice tests, you can test yourself on all 396 questions and tailor how you want the questions presented (by section, chapter, randomly, etc.) It took me about two weeks to work through the book studying about 1-2 hours in the evenings (OK actually between innings during the baseball Championship series). I then loaded the CD onto my laptop, and took practice tests while watching the World Series (yes...between innings). In no time I could answer all 396 questions with only a few incorrect responses. I then signed up for the test at the local Ham club, and passed the 35 question Technician test with absolutely no problems. I am actually very proud to be a licensed Ham....even my wife is calling me by my call sign. I just ordered the ARRL study manual for the General license exam...same exact type book. I know you can do a lot of study on the internet, but this book was definitely worth the modest cost....and it works. Highly recommended. KC3BOH

I bought this book a couple weeks before my local club was giving a license test, took that test and my General test and passed both first time.I ordered this book on Monday, got it a few days later and read this book cover to cover on Saturday morning. I did not take the practical tests in the book after each chapter/section. When I was done reading the book, I fired up an old PC, because the software included with my version didn't support Mac. I took the test and passed. I took the test again and passed. I did this several times. I was comfortable that just reading the book was enough to pass.I also popped on to Hamexam.org and took the test there. I was comfortable I would pass the Tech test.I scheduled myself to take the test from my local club that Saturday after registering for a Federal Register Number (FRN) from the FCC. Knowing I had a week to go before the test, I decided to look at what it would take to pass the General test. I went online, realized that I didn't have enough time to get the General Book to me so I searched online and found there are free texts at kb6nu.com, and downloaded the no-nonsense guide to the General Test for free (they have the tech test for free documents online also). I read through that material and went to hamexam.org and took the test. And passed the first time. And second. And on, and on, and on.I contacted my local club, informed them that I would be taking Tech and General.I took both tests and passed both tests. I missed 1 question on the first test (my fault, I second guessed myself) and 1 question on my second test (Again, I also know that I second guessed myself there too). In hindsight, I'd loved to have learned the General information via the ARRL book, because they do such a good job at explaining the material. And I should have bought a cheap BaoFeng radio for $50 so I could understand radio settings better (both the missed questions came from frequency range and offset). You can own the radio but can't transmit until the FCC says your license is issued. If you program a radio you'll understand, on a practical level, the questions better. And the upshot is, you have a cheap radio that will get you going as soon as the license is issued.If you can pass a Tech test, you can pass a General with just a tad more study. My suggestion is to get both the ARRL Tech and General books and do both tests the first time. My club doesn't offer tests that often, but, in under 5 months, I know I'll have all three tests passed.

This book contains all the information needed to pass the test. I read the text portion twice over a couple of months. I got through about 70% of the questions in the last half before taking the test. I barely passed, but that was good enough to get the license. The book has two parts, half of it is the information about Ham Radio, the second half is the question bank with the answers so you can study. The questions in the book are the exact same questions that are on the test, as long as you buy the current years book. I think the questions are being updated this year, so make sure you get the most current version and don't wait too long before you take the test.

This book covers all the different questions you will see and groups them in sections by subject matter. After each instructional section of the book you are given a list of the questions that were covered. You then turn to the back of the book and test yourself on them. They are multiple choice questions and the correct choice is listed in a column on the outside edge of the page where you can cover them up and then uncover them after you try to answer the question. The CD that comes with it generates practice tests. You get a score broken down by section and you can easily review what questions you missed and what sections you need more work on. You can take as many tests as you need to. I studied out of this book and the General License Exam book for 4 weeks and passed both tests in the same testing section.One thing you would want to do, though. The questions are not covered in the text in the order they occur in the list of questions and answers; they are in the order that the FCC numbers them. Hopping around in the question and answer section is a bit bothersome. However, you can go on the ARRL web site (the book tells you where) and download and print out a PDF file that lists the questions in the order that the book covers them. That's more convenient.