About Licenses

There are now 3 license classes: Technician, General, and Amateur Extra. 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 transmissions in some of the HF bands below 30 MHz.

W4AQL offers Amateur Radio Licensing Exams coordinated by the ARRL VEC. 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 2012. The most up-to-date information can be found on the 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.