Classes

Dave Wickert AE7TD, Horace Hamby N7DRW, and guest instructors teach FCC amateur radio classes (Technician and General Class).  A Technician class license allows amateurs to use radio frequencies for emergency communications, family communications, personal technology growth, and to make many new friends worldwide. A General license expands upon the Technician license by adding HF frequencies as additional privileges.

Upcoming March 2019 Technician Amateur Radio Class

Interested in ham radio? Are you looking to use radio as a means of off-grid communications and in the event of an emergency? Ham radio is a good fit for many situations – including that you are just interested in communications and electronics. Hosted at REI Eastgate HQ, Lake Washington Ham Club instructors will be conducting a Spring 2019 Amateur Radio Technician class for the purposes of preparing you to earn your entry-level FCC Technician class ham radio license.

There is no charge for the class itself but there is a cost for the Technician-class study web service located at http://www.hamtestonline.com (approx. $25.00) and there is a $15.00 exam fee. Classes run on two Saturdays plus a middle “hands-on” Saturday.

Class schedule is as follows:

  • Session #1, Saturday, March 2nd, 9 am – 5 pm, REI Eastgate HQ, Pike’s Peak Training Room, 15800 SE Eastgate Way, Bellevue, WA ; we will provide a working lunch. Topics for the session are:
    • An introduction to the technician exam and how to study
      Rules and Regulations: FCC defined bands, license privileges, control operators, 3rd party communications
    • Basic techniques: simplex communications, band plans, repeaters, running nets, emergency communications, etc.
    • How radio waves travel and various modulation techniques (AM, SSB, FM, etc.)
  • Session #2, Saturday, March 9th, 10am – 12 noon, Redmond Presbyterian Church, 10020 166th Avenue NE, Redmond, WA 98052 – we will meet with the Lake Washington Ham Club for demos, Q&A, hands-on, assign elmers if students wish to have a mentor help guide them after being licensed, check-in with student progress, etc.
  • Session #3, Saturday, March 16th, 9 am – 1pm, REI Eastgate HQ, Pike’s Peak Training Room, 15800 SE Eastgate Way, Bellevue, WA . Topics are:
    • Basic electricity; Ohm’s law; Power, Components, AC/DC, Schematics; Test equipment; Electrical and associated physical safety
    • Radio wave propagation
    • Antennas
    • Safety, RF exposure
  • Exam session March 16th (same location) after lunch/study break, 3-5pm; we will be offering all levels of ham radio licensing exams, i.e. Technician, General, Extra — $15 exam fee

Each of the training sessions include hands-on work with radios, demos and “nets” with students operating the radios.

Class size is limited to 20 persons so if interested, please register early. Students are urged to sign up as soon as possible for the study service http://www.hamtestonline.com to become familiar with the exam format. To enroll, please send the following to Dave Wickert, AE7TD dwickert@hotmail.com  :

(1) your full name,
(2) your email address,
(3) your phone number,
(4) a name for emergency contact and their phone number,
(5) city of residence (so we can link you up with an appropriate Amateur Radio Emergency Services group in your area).

There is no age limit to getting a ham radio license. Kids are welcome to take the course along with their family members. Ham radio is a great family activity.

Depending on availability, existing ham radio operators are welcome to audit the class as a refresher. If so, please include your call sign as part of your enrollment information.

Exam resources available:

Regardless of the study approach taken, we recommend the ARRL “Ham Radio License Manual”  (https://www.amazon.com/ARRL-Radio-License-Manual-Spiral/dp/1625950829/ ) as reference material. Feel free to purchase and study beforehand if you like.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Make sure that you get the 4th Edition of the book. Earlier editions are obsolete. Likewise, when purchasing the resources below, make sure that it covers the latest question pool, i.e. 2018 to 2022. Some resources are not updated in a timely fashion. 

(Note: without any commercial endorsements, everyone learns differently)

If you want to bypass the training and go to the actual exam questions, which are publically available:

Amateur License Practice Testing Sites

ARRL now features a web site with free practice tests for the amateur radio license exams. Check out this article. New

These sites feature free practice tests for the amateur radio license exams.

Good information about ham radio, in general, is available at:

Please check back for updates!

Additional training slides here:

Technician

General

Extra

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