Get Your Ham Ticket
A "Ham Ticket" is shorthand for an FCC-issued Amateur Radio License. This is something you legally need to transmit in any mode on any authorized amateur radio frequency.
Be legal. Get licensed.
So, how does one get their "Ham Ticket"? Short answer is you have to pass a written multiple choice test. If curious, yes, years ago there was a Morse Code requirement, but was changed in 2007. A Morse Code test is not required to pass your test.
So, where can I take this test?
GCARC club members, through the Volunteer Examiner program, support monthly examination (test) sessions that you can attend. They are conducted on the second Thursday of the month at the GCARC clubhouse - for details, and to make sure you have all the right stuff to bring to a test session, and that the VEC (test coordinator) knows you are coming, it is recommended you contact Gary Reed, N2QEE (VEC) in advance, before coming out to one of his administered test sessions.
Gary N2QEE's contact info: glreed49 <at> verizon <dot> net
There are other testing locations/alternatives, some listed later on this page.
What's on the test? Any study help available?
It is recommended that you would do some advance study before sitting for a test session. To assist with this, links to the whole pool of current test questions, from which the questions on your test will be drawn, are included below, along with links to other self-study materials. There may also be in-person or online conducted study classes available from time to time to help in your studies. You can check on the "Current Events" page to see if this club has any scheduled to start soon.
Be legal. Get licensed.
So, how does one get their "Ham Ticket"? Short answer is you have to pass a written multiple choice test. If curious, yes, years ago there was a Morse Code requirement, but was changed in 2007. A Morse Code test is not required to pass your test.
So, where can I take this test?
GCARC club members, through the Volunteer Examiner program, support monthly examination (test) sessions that you can attend. They are conducted on the second Thursday of the month at the GCARC clubhouse - for details, and to make sure you have all the right stuff to bring to a test session, and that the VEC (test coordinator) knows you are coming, it is recommended you contact Gary Reed, N2QEE (VEC) in advance, before coming out to one of his administered test sessions.
Gary N2QEE's contact info: glreed49 <at> verizon <dot> net
There are other testing locations/alternatives, some listed later on this page.
What's on the test? Any study help available?
It is recommended that you would do some advance study before sitting for a test session. To assist with this, links to the whole pool of current test questions, from which the questions on your test will be drawn, are included below, along with links to other self-study materials. There may also be in-person or online conducted study classes available from time to time to help in your studies. You can check on the "Current Events" page to see if this club has any scheduled to start soon.
GCARC Monthly VE Exam Testing Summary
Gary Reed, N2QEE reports :
There were two VE sessions in the month of September.
The monthly session was held on September 8, 2022 and there was one candidate. Alexander Rodriguez KE2AAK of Sewell passed both the Technician and General exams. His license was posted on the FCC ULS website on 9/13.
The participating VE's were :
The VE session on September 11, 2022 in conjunction with the GCARC Hamfest had no candidates. This is the first Hamfest I have participated in that didn't have any candidates. According to the FCC Rules if a session has no candidates, that VE session isn't counted.
The VE's who participated were :
I have heard from one candidate that wants to upgrade at the October session. The next session will be held on Thursday, October 13, 2022 @ 1900 Hours at the W2MMD Clubhouse.
A big thank you to the VE's who helped with the sessions.
Gary Reed, N2QEE reports :
There were two VE sessions in the month of September.
The monthly session was held on September 8, 2022 and there was one candidate. Alexander Rodriguez KE2AAK of Sewell passed both the Technician and General exams. His license was posted on the FCC ULS website on 9/13.
The participating VE's were :
- Chris Prioli AD2CS
- Mike Thompson KG4JYA
- Mike Resnick N2WOQ
- Rich Subers W2RHS
- Mike Harla N2MHO
- Chris Chamberlain N2IVN
- Steve Farney W2SEF
- Earl Moore KC2NCH
- Gary Reed N2QEE
The VE session on September 11, 2022 in conjunction with the GCARC Hamfest had no candidates. This is the first Hamfest I have participated in that didn't have any candidates. According to the FCC Rules if a session has no candidates, that VE session isn't counted.
The VE's who participated were :
- Leonard Rust W2LJR
- Jeff Garth WB2ZBN
- Rich Subers W2RHS
- Steve Farney W2SEF
- Mike Thompson KG4JYA
- Jerry Barnish K2EAB
- Earl Moore KC2NCH
- Chris Chamberlain N2IVN
- Gary Reed N2QEE
I have heard from one candidate that wants to upgrade at the October session. The next session will be held on Thursday, October 13, 2022 @ 1900 Hours at the W2MMD Clubhouse.
A big thank you to the VE's who helped with the sessions.
The South Jersey Radio Association has testing sessions at the New Brooklyn United Methodist Church, 1336 East Malaga Road, Williamstown, NJ at 7 PM on third Wednesday of the month. There are NO testing sessions during the months of November and December.
The Southern Counties Amateur Radio Association (SCARA) offers a VE testing session on the first Thursday of each month. The testing location is at the Anthony Canale Training Center, 5033 English Creek Avenue, Egg Harbor Township, NJ. The doors open at 6:30 PM and testing begins at 7:00 PM. Pre-registration is required. Be sure to bring your photo I.D. and current license if you are upgrading to a higher license class. The current testing fee is $15.
To pre-register, please contact Larry Schall, KB2MN at 609-287-5340 or kb2mn <at> arrl <dot> net.
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Prior to taking your Technician Class exam, you must get an FRN number from the FCC. It replaces your Social Security Number.
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The PDF file downloads below are publicly available material
2022-2026 Technician Class (Element 2) exam is 35 questions out of a pool of 412 questions
2019-2023 General Class (Element 3) exam is 35 questions out of a pool of 452 questions
2020-2024 Amateur Extra Class (Element 4) exam is 50 questions out of a pool of 620 questions
2022-2026 Technician Class (Element 2) exam is 35 questions out of a pool of 412 questions
2019-2023 General Class (Element 3) exam is 35 questions out of a pool of 452 questions
2020-2024 Amateur Extra Class (Element 4) exam is 50 questions out of a pool of 620 questions
2022-2026 New Technician Class (Element 2) Question Pool.PDF
2022-2026 New Technician Class (Element 2) Tech Graphics.PDF
2019-2023 General Class (Element 3) Question Pool.PDF
2019-2023 General Class Graphic G7-1.PDF
2020-2024 Amateur Extra Class (Element 4) Question Pool.PDF
2020-2024 Amateur Extra Class Question Pool Diagrams.PDF
Download Part 97 FCC Rules
2022-2026 New Technician Class (Element 2) Tech Graphics.PDF
2019-2023 General Class (Element 3) Question Pool.PDF
2019-2023 General Class Graphic G7-1.PDF
2020-2024 Amateur Extra Class (Element 4) Question Pool.PDF
2020-2024 Amateur Extra Class Question Pool Diagrams.PDF
Download Part 97 FCC Rules
Amateur Radio License Practice Exams and Study Websites
www.hamstudy.org : Find A Test Sessions
ARRL : Find An Amateur Radio License Online Exam
Gordon West Study Guides
KB6NU's No-Nonsense Study Guides
From The ARRL Letter for March 24, 2022...
New Amateur Radio License Applications Fee To Become Effective April 19, 2022A Public Notice released by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on March 23, 2022, in MD Docket No. 20-270, announced that new application fees for Wireless Telecommunications Bureau applications will become effective on April 19, 2022. The new fees, mandated by Congress, apply to applications for Amateur Radio licenses including those associated with filing Form 605, the Amateur Operator/Primary Station Licensee Application.
Effective April 19, 2022, a $35 fee will apply to applications for a new Amateur Radio license, modification (upgrade and sequential call sign change), renewal, and vanity call signs.
Anticipating the implementation of the fee in 2022, the ARRL Board of Directors, at its July 2021 meeting, approved the "ARRL Youth Licensing Grant Program." Under the program, ARRL will cover a one-time $35 application fee for license candidates younger than 18 years old for tests administered under the auspices of the ARRL Volunteer Examiner Coordinator (ARRL VEC). Qualified candidates also would pay a reduced exam session fee of $5 to the ARRL VEC. ARRL is finalizing details for administering the program.
ARRL had filed comments in opposition to imposing a fee on Amateur Radio license applications. The FCC initially proposed a higher, $50 fee. In a Report and Order (R&O), released on December 29, 2020, the amount was reduced -- the FCC agreeing with ARRL and other commenters that its proposed $50 fee for certain amateur radio applications was "too high to account for the minimal staff involvement in these applications."
ARRL Volunteer Examiner Coordinator (ARRL VEC) Manager Maria Somma, AB1FM, explained that all fees are per application. "There will be no fee for administrative updates, such as a change of mailing or email address. The fees will be the responsibility of the applicant regardless of filing method and must be paid within 10 calendar days of FCC's receipt of the application. For applications filed by a VEC, the period does not begin until the application is received by the Commission, a ULS file number assigned, and an email sent by the FCC directly to the applicant."
VECs and Volunteer Examiner (VE) teams will not collect the $35 fee at license exam sessions. New and upgrade candidates at an exam session will continue to pay the $15 exam session fee to the ARRL VE team as usual, and pay the new, $35 application fee directly to the FCC by using the CORES FRN Registration system (CORES - Login).
When the FCC receives the examination information from the VEC, it will email a link with payment instructions to each successful candidate who then will have 10 calendar days from the date of the email to pay. After the fee is paid and the FCC has processed an application, examinees will receive a second email from the FCC with a link to their official license or explanation of other action. The link will be good for 30 days.
Somma also explained that applications that are processed and dismissed will not be entitled to a refund. This includes vanity call sign requests where the applicant does not receive the requested call sign. "The FCC staff has suggested that applicants for vanity call signs should first ensure the call signs requested are available and eligible for their operator class and area, and then request as many call signs as the form allows to maximize their chances of receiving a call sign."
Further information and instructions about the FCC Application Fee are available from the ARRL VEC at www.arrl.org/fcc-application-fee. Details for the ARRL Youth Licensing Grant Program will be similarly posted there, when available.
New Amateur Radio License Applications Fee To Become Effective April 19, 2022A Public Notice released by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on March 23, 2022, in MD Docket No. 20-270, announced that new application fees for Wireless Telecommunications Bureau applications will become effective on April 19, 2022. The new fees, mandated by Congress, apply to applications for Amateur Radio licenses including those associated with filing Form 605, the Amateur Operator/Primary Station Licensee Application.
Effective April 19, 2022, a $35 fee will apply to applications for a new Amateur Radio license, modification (upgrade and sequential call sign change), renewal, and vanity call signs.
Anticipating the implementation of the fee in 2022, the ARRL Board of Directors, at its July 2021 meeting, approved the "ARRL Youth Licensing Grant Program." Under the program, ARRL will cover a one-time $35 application fee for license candidates younger than 18 years old for tests administered under the auspices of the ARRL Volunteer Examiner Coordinator (ARRL VEC). Qualified candidates also would pay a reduced exam session fee of $5 to the ARRL VEC. ARRL is finalizing details for administering the program.
ARRL had filed comments in opposition to imposing a fee on Amateur Radio license applications. The FCC initially proposed a higher, $50 fee. In a Report and Order (R&O), released on December 29, 2020, the amount was reduced -- the FCC agreeing with ARRL and other commenters that its proposed $50 fee for certain amateur radio applications was "too high to account for the minimal staff involvement in these applications."
ARRL Volunteer Examiner Coordinator (ARRL VEC) Manager Maria Somma, AB1FM, explained that all fees are per application. "There will be no fee for administrative updates, such as a change of mailing or email address. The fees will be the responsibility of the applicant regardless of filing method and must be paid within 10 calendar days of FCC's receipt of the application. For applications filed by a VEC, the period does not begin until the application is received by the Commission, a ULS file number assigned, and an email sent by the FCC directly to the applicant."
VECs and Volunteer Examiner (VE) teams will not collect the $35 fee at license exam sessions. New and upgrade candidates at an exam session will continue to pay the $15 exam session fee to the ARRL VE team as usual, and pay the new, $35 application fee directly to the FCC by using the CORES FRN Registration system (CORES - Login).
When the FCC receives the examination information from the VEC, it will email a link with payment instructions to each successful candidate who then will have 10 calendar days from the date of the email to pay. After the fee is paid and the FCC has processed an application, examinees will receive a second email from the FCC with a link to their official license or explanation of other action. The link will be good for 30 days.
Somma also explained that applications that are processed and dismissed will not be entitled to a refund. This includes vanity call sign requests where the applicant does not receive the requested call sign. "The FCC staff has suggested that applicants for vanity call signs should first ensure the call signs requested are available and eligible for their operator class and area, and then request as many call signs as the form allows to maximize their chances of receiving a call sign."
Further information and instructions about the FCC Application Fee are available from the ARRL VEC at www.arrl.org/fcc-application-fee. Details for the ARRL Youth Licensing Grant Program will be similarly posted there, when available.
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Getting My Dad’s Call Sign
By Mary Delemarre, W2TDS (Formally KD2PLH) My dad, Steve Blasko, known to hams as W2TDS passed away on December 30, 2020. He had been a ham since he was a teenager, even before he was an electronics technician in the Navy. He learned about ham radio while at Merchantville High School in an after-school club. He was 17 when he got his ham ticket and his driver's license. Some of my earliest |
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memories are of my dad saying "CQ CQ this is W2TDS Whiskey Two Tango Delta Sierra calling CQ". When I was six I moved upstairs into the bedroom he had built for me. My mom and dad did not have enough money to pay for a finished second floor, so dad did it himself. I cannot think of my bedroom without remembering going to sleep with the crazy sounds of the antennas blowing in the wind.
The idea to get my dad's call sign was suggested to me by my brother, Stephen Jr., just after we had said a toast to my dad. We had just come back from arraigning his funeral. It all seemed so surreal. Two months earlier he had been driving, paying bills, walking and talking, and now he was dead. At the end he wasn't even able to talk, but he passed away peacefully looking at my mom, his wife of 55 years. I was glad I was there when he passed, I had been able to say goodbye to the man who had raised me to become the person I am today. I probably would not be an electrical engineer or a ham without his encouragement and guidance. He was always encouraging me to get my license, especially after I got my Electrical Engineering degree from Rutgers and the Morse code requirement was dropped. I had thought about it from time to time, but finally did something about it when I attended a ham cram session at the Trenton Computer Festival and passed the test. I waited a few months to tell my dad. I told him on father's day. He was so happy and said it was the best present ever. The next day he drove down to HRO in Delaware and bought me my rig - a Yaesu 857d.
But was I worthy of his call sign and could I get it with just a technician’s license? I wasn't sure what to do, but I knew the members of the Gloucester County Amateur Radio Club would help me if I asked for help. I got lots of encouragement and advice from them and it helped me navigate what to do.
I did a lot of research to better understand call signs, vanity signs and how to get vanity signs. I learned that the FCC wants to start charging hams licensing fees. I did not know if that had gone into effect and the FCC website certainly did not help clear up my confusion.
From my research I learned that the rules of vanity call signs had relaxed and I would be able to qualify for my dad's call sign with a technician class. For more information on vanity signs please refer to : https://www.fcc.gov/wireless/bureau-divisions/mobility-division/amateur-radio-service/amateur-call-sign-systems. I also learned that the FCC fees for ham vanity call signs had not been implemented.
My first attempt to get my dad's call sign failed, because he still had the call sign. I needed to alert the FCC that he had passed before I could request it as next of kin.
MAIL METHOD : "The license of the former holder now deceased must show a status of expired or cancelled in the licensee database. See Section 97.31(a). This is accomplished by submitting a request that includes a death certificate or obituary that shows the person named in the operator/primary station license grant has died. Such a request may be submitted as a pleading associated with the deceased licensee's license and sent to : FCC, 1270 Fairfield Road, Gettysburg, PA 17325-7245
ELECTRONIC METHOD : You can submit all the information via the FCC’s support web page by clicking on “Submit a Help Request”: https://www.fcc.gov/wireless/available-support-services. At the bottom of the help request page you can attach a file if needed before submitting the notice to FCC.
I chose the electronic method. I attached an electronic copy of the death certificate and included links to the obituary. I also mentioned that I was planning to request his call sign.
The website says "Allow FCC one to two weeks to cancel the license. You can verify the FCC has canceled the license by looking up the FCC license call sign data at https://www.fcc.gov/wireless/systems-utilities/universal-licensing-system. If the license has been canceled, FCC will show the license STATUS as "CANCELED"."
About a week or so later I checked. Please refer to Figure 1 below.
Now that my dad's call had been canceled, I resumed my electronic application for my dad's call sign. It was still pending from my first attempt.
According to the FCC website "After the license is canceled in the system, the eligible family member will have a limited amount of time to apply for the call sign depending on the date of death. The time allowed may be as little as 30 days or up to 2 years to apply for the call sign as a vanity call sign before it goes back into the pool of available call signs."
“An eligible family member would apply under the eligibility : CLOSE RELATIVE OF FORMER HOLDER.
The applying amateur must have their FRN (Federal Registration Number) and their CORES/License password to log in to the FCC's online Filing System : https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsEntry/licManager/login.jsp. Filing online is fairly easy and you will know immediately the FCC has received the request and that the application was completed correctly.”
“If you have any questions or issues with the password to login, you can call the CORES help desk.
FCC CORES/FRN Help Line: 877-480-3201 (Mon.-Fri. 8 a.m.-6 p.m. ET).
Once you have logged in, applying for a vanity call sign online is very easy and should take less than 5 minutes”.
It took about 5 minutes. I chose CLOSE RELATIVE and I believe I mentioned I was his daughter. See Figure 2 below for the confirmation of my request to get W2TDS.
It takes the FCC about 18 days to issue the new call sign. I checked every few days and finally on March 16th I was W2TDS. Refer to Figure 3 below.
I also had to register my new call sign with http://www.echolink.org so I can continue participating on the 2M Thursday net rag chew using EchoLink.
Speaking of which, I would like to thank the 2M Thursday net crew for their encouragement and help in getting my dad's call sign. I would especially like to thank Vinnie N4NYY and Steve W2SEF for the detailed emails.
I hope I can live up to my dad's legacy as W2TDS.
73,
Mary Delemarre
W2TDS