Official Website for Amateur Radio Testing Sessions at Georgia Tech
Please note, this is the only official source for information regarding amateur radio testing sessions held at Georgia Tech. These testing sessions are sponsored on campus by the Georgia Tech Amateur Radio Club W4AQL and the Atlanta Radio Club W4DOC. If you discover information to the contrary on another site, please email w4aq...@lists.gatech.edu with the URL.
If you are a VE interested in helping us out, see below.
About Licenses
There are now 3 license classes: Technician, General, and Amateur Extra. So, instead of the six tests you were required to take before, now there are only three tests. The ARRL has done a great job in getting information together on this topic so please visit their site for more information.
If you are not yet an Amateur Radio operator, but would like to become one, W4AQL can supply you with study materials and answer any questions you may have. Many people can pass the Technician exam with only a few evenings of reading. The Technician class license will allow for transmissions above 30 MHz. The General and Extra licenses will allow for tranmissions in some of the HF bands below 30 MHz.
W4AQL offers Amateur Radio Licensing Exams, given through the ARRL under their VE program. You may find other nearby exam sessions on the ARRL's site. There are usually several in the Atlanta area each month.
There is an administrative fee of $15 per exam sitting in 2011. (The most up-to-date information can be found on ARRL’s website; this fee changes no more often than once per year.) This covers as many separate exams as you wish to take in a day, as long as you receive passing scores. Depending on time constraints, examiners may allow you to retake failed exams immediately, but you would have to pay for another exam sitting. Keep in mind that once you have an Amateur Radio license, it's yours for life, as long as you renew it (for free) every ten years. It doesn't cost anything to be a ham.
Location & Parking
Testing sessions are held on the fourth Sunday of every month
Parking Map available here. The best parking to use is marked Area 4 on the parking map.
BE ADVISED: ATLANTIC DRIVE (WHERE THE VAN LEER BUILDING IS LOCATED) WILL BE CLOSED TO VEHICULAR TRAFFIC FOR THE FORSEEABLE FUTURE. PEDESTRIAN TRAFFIC WILL BE UNAFFECTED.
Directions to Van Leer Electrical Engineering building:
From South of Atlanta
- I-75/85N to exit 250 (10th/14th/17th Street)
- Take a left on 10th Street
- Take a left on State Street
- Follow through stop sign to visitor lot on the left
- Walk to Atlantic Drive and take a right
- Van Leer is on the left before the end of the tarmac road
From North of Atlanta
- I-75/85S to exit 250 (14th/10th Street)
- Go through 14th Street light and follow right fork to 10th Street
- Take a right on 10th Street
- Take a left on State Street
- Follow through stop sign to visitor lot on the left
- Walk to Atlantic Drive and take a right.
- Van Leer is on the left before the end of the tarmac road
If you are a licensed ham, someone is generally monitoring our repeater.
What to bring:
- $15 test fee (cash or check payable to “American Radio Relay League”)
- Pen and pencil
- Calculator (optional) - please note: the memory will need to be cleared if it is a programmable type!
- Photo ID (preferably driver’s license or passport). Under 18, bring a birth certificate and another form of ID (library card, school ID, etc)
- If you are claiming any credit for previous exams, bring the ORIGINAL and a COPY of your CSCE.
- If you are already licensed, bring the ORIGINAL and a COPY of your License.
Testing At Georgia Tech News
Please subscribe to the mailing list below. This list is stored on a Georgia Tech server solely for the purpose of informing you of upcoming exams. Once you have taken the exam, you are welcome to remove yourself from this list! Approximately one week prior to the exam each month, you will receive an email reminder. Other than this, you do not need to ‘pre-register’. The purpose of this list is so that we can inform you, in case of an extenuating circumstance that requires us to cancel an exam session or a change of location.
You do NOT need to send an email to confirm your attendance. Any last minute updates will be posted to this site and emailed to the mailing list below.
If you would like to be added to a mailing list that sends out testing announcements (and only announcements regarding testing), please subscribe to the list at the GT List Server.
Information for Volunteer Examiners
If you are an ARRL accredited VE who lives in the Atlanta area and is interested in helping us out, please contact us at w4aq...@lists.gatech.edu, and we will put you on our VE Team mailing list. Our team staffs sessions with Amateur Extra licensees, but General or Advanced licensees may still join the mailing list.