Get Your Amateur Radio License

Welcome to a great journey, the journey of amateur “ham” radio. Hams come from all walks of life with a common interest in communicating over the radio. Whether it is across town, to another continent or off the moon, there is always a ham out there somewhere. You will have a lot of fun learning as you advance in license class and in your ability to work new contacts on all the various modes available to you. There are 3 license classes, Technician, General and Amateur Extra – each advancement in class gives you more privileges than the previous, Amateur Extra class is the top level.

Morse code (CW) is NO longer required to earn any license class!

Many folks had trouble with learning morse code so removing CW from the requirements has been good for the hobby and allowed it to grow rapidly. After you are licensed, you can still try your hand at CW and see if you can master it, since it makes reaching distant stations easier than using voice.

Many hams start out with a small hand held UHF/VHF radio since that is what is allowed by the entry level Technician class license. You can communicate with people in your local area, directly or through relay stations called Repeaters. Hams in cities large & small have setup a network of repeaters that make their handheld radios operate over great distances.

As you progress to General class, you earn privileges on High Frequency or HF frequency bands – the bands most known for long distance communications. Many hams use a simple (and cheap do-it-yourself) wire antenna and a starter HF radio to communicate around the world. More experienced hams use directional antennas to “work DX” (rare foreign countries).

Making contacts via Ham Radio is fun because you never know who will come back to your call and you meet interesting people on the air and can learn a lot about distant lands. Most Hams are very friendly an eager to make new contacts and share their knowledge of radio, culture, language, etc.

While there are many ways to study for your exam, many hams believe that the best way to do it is to study to pass the test and then spend your time learning how to operate from doing it, talking to other hams, and by using operating manuals, etc. No study guide will provide you with everything you need to know to be a good operator. Nothing beats experience and RWK has a mentor program with experienced operators willing to assist new hams get going – we call them “Elmers”.

There are so many fun things to do in this hobby it will boggle your mind. Literally there is a facet for everyone. Our friend Jason Johnston KC5HWB has a video that describes all the things that you can do as a ham:

Have fun and good luck studying, passing your license exam, and getting on the air.

RWK is a friendly club and we are here to help you get going and get on the air!

Visitors are always welcome at our monthly meetings – come check us out!

We hope to hear you on the RWK repeater one day soon!

Feel free to email us with any questions you may have.