Ham Radio for Beginners: How to Get Licensed and Get on the Air

What ham radio actually is

Amateur radio — universally called ham radio by its practitioners — is licensed two-way radio communication for personal use, experimentation, and public service. Licensed operators (hams) communicate voice, data, and image signals across local, national, and global distances using frequencies allocated exclusively to the amateur service.

The hobby is older than broadcast radio and has been at the frontier of wireless communication since the early 1900s — the first transatlantic radio contact was made by an amateur. Today it spans everything from casual voice chat on local repeaters to bouncing signals off the moon (EME), communicating through amateur satellites, and providing backup communications infrastructure during disasters.

What draws people in varies: some want the social dimension (the worldwide community of licensed operators sharing a calling), some want the physics (understanding how radio waves propagate through the atmosphere and ionosphere), some want the electronics (building your own transmitters and antennas), and some want the emergency communications angle (ham operators provide critical infrastructure support in disasters when other systems fail). Most find all of these becoming interesting over time.

Getting licensed

The FCC requires a licence to transmit on amateur radio frequencies in the US. There are three licence classes:

Technician — entry level. Grants privileges on all VHF and UHF amateur bands (2 metres, 70 cm, and others) plus limited HF access. Sufficient for local and regional communication via repeaters and line-of-sight links.

General — intermediate. Adds access to most HF (shortwave) frequencies, enabling worldwide communication. Most active operators hold at least a General.

Amateur Extra — the highest class. Unlocks all remaining frequency privileges. Required for some contesting and DX (long-distance) activities.

Passing the Technician exam

The exam is 35 multiple-choice questions drawn from a published question pool of approximately 400 questions. A score of 74% (26/35) passes. The question pool is public — you're studying questions you'll see on the exam.

Study resources (all free):

• HamStudy.org — question-by-question practice with spaced repetition
• Ham Radio Prep — structured video course
• ARRL's Ham Radio License Manual — the printed study guide ($30)

Most candidates pass in 2–3 weeks of casual study. The exam fee is around $15 and is administered by volunteer examiner groups — find one at arrl.org/exam-sessions.

Your first radio

Baofeng UV-5R (~$25) — the default starter handheld. Covers 2m (144 MHz) and 70cm (430 MHz) bands; works on local repeaters immediately. Build quality is modest and the interface is confusing without the manual, but it works and it's inexpensive enough to buy before you pass your exam (you can receive without a licence; you just can't transmit).

Yaesu FT-65R (~$80) — a significant step up in build quality and usability. Still dual-band VHF/UHF, but the interface is more intuitive and the receiver quality is noticeably better. A better first radio if you can stretch the budget.

Icom IC-7300 (~$1,100) — the most recommended entry-level HF (shortwave) transceiver for General and Extra class operators wanting to work the world. Not a first purchase, but the standard recommendation when you're ready for HF.

For local VHF/UHF operation, a handheld plus a better antenna (a mobile mag-mount on a metal surface dramatically outperforms the rubber duck) gets you much further.

What you can do with a ham licence

Repeaters and local nets — the starting point for most Technician operators. Repeaters extend the range of handheld radios by receiving on one frequency and retransmitting on another from a hilltop or tower. Local nets (scheduled round-table check-ins) are on most active repeaters weekly.

HF (shortwave) communication — the main draw for General and Extra class operators. HF signals can travel thousands of miles by bouncing off the ionosphere. On a good day, a modest antenna and 100W of power can reach Europe from the US East Coast. Propagation varies by solar activity, season, and time of day — understanding it is a lifetime study.

APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System) — a digital protocol that transmits position, weather, and text data over radio. Your Baofeng can transmit APRS packets that appear on aprs.fi as a dot on the map — a simple introduction to digital radio modes.

Contesting — competitive contacts: how many stations can you work in 24 or 48 hours? Contesting drives antenna and station improvements and is deeply social. The CQ World Wide contest (October) and ARRL Field Day (June) are the two largest annual events.

Emergency communications (ARES/RACES) — volunteer groups that provide backup communications for emergency management agencies. Many operators get licensed specifically for this; ARES groups train regularly and deploy in real emergencies.