Dave Wickert AE7TD 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.
<Sorry — We have no Technician Amateur Radio classes currently planned. Check back later for more information.>
Exam resources available:
Regardless of the study approach taken, as a long term resource, we recommend the ARRL “Ham Radio License Manual” (https://www.amazon.com/ARRL-Radio-License-Manual-Spiral/dp/1625950829/ ) as reference material.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Make sure that you get the 4th Edition of the book. Earlier editions are obsolete. Likewise, when purchasing the resources below (or using them as study aids), please make sure that it covers the latest question pool, i.e. Technician 2018 to 2022. Every four years the exam question pool changes. Some resources are not updated in a timely fashion.
(Note: not in any particular order and without any commercial endorsements, as everyone learns differently)
- Ham Radio Prep web service is a commercial study aid resource at: https://www.hamradioprep.com//
- “No-Nonsense Study Guides” http://www.kb6nu.com/study-guides/
- Ron Hashiro’s web site provides: (1) Excellent cheat sheet study guides, (2) Pointers to the full set of videos from the Hermosa Beach Valley Ham School (8 sessions with multiple parts in each) http://www.qsl.net/ah6rh/am-radio/license-tech/
- Dave Casler’s set of 38 well-produced videos that cover the entire ARRL Technician Book — this is a great additional resource if you are going to use the ARRL material.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaBtYooQdmNzq63eID8RaLQ - ARRL materials: http://www.arrl.org/courses-training (both free and commercial products)
- Gordon West Radio School: http://www.gordonwestradioschool.com/ (book available on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/2018-2022-Technician-Class-Gordon-West/dp/0945053908/ + online resources with drill and practice software and audio course: http://www.w5yi.org/ “Technician Value Package
- Ham Radio School: http://www.hamradioschool.com/ (book available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/HamRadioSchool-com-Technician-License-Course-Turner/dp/1477595457/ + online resources); again, make sure you order the 2018-2022 edition of the book for the latest question pool information. If you are going to use the book, purchasing the app for $5 is a good investment as the app’s practice tests point to the book page number.
- Ham Test Online: http://www.hamtestonline.com (commercial product) — NOTE: Ham Radio Online is our recommended study aid for our Technician classes. It is by far the most successful study aid that we have seen so far and all of our classes use it for drill and practice.
- A similar non-commercial version is available at: http://hamexam.org
- Ham University: http://www.hamuniversity.com (commercial product)
- Podcast w/ technician class exam material: (audio, non-commercial)
http://myamateurradio.com/become-a-ham/2010-2014-us-technician-class-amateur-radio-exam-audio-review/ - QRZ Online practice tests: http://www.qrz.com/ht/ (free)
- W5YI Ham Instructor resources: http://www.haminstructor.com/ (sample instructor materials)
If you want to bypass the training and go to the actual exam questions, which are publicly available:
- The current Technician Class exam (valid until 31-Jun-2018) draws 35 questions from a pool of 426 possible questions, available here:
http://ncvec.org/page.php?id=362 - For pointers to all of the available ham exams, and more information on the Volunteer Examiner program, look here: http://www.arrl.org/question-pools
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. 
These sites feature free practice tests for the amateur radio license exams.
- Hamilton KD0FNR practice exams
- QRZ.COM practice exams (you must first get a free account)
- eham.net practice exams
- AA9PW practice exams
- hamexam.org
Good information about ham radio, in general, is available at:
- Ham Radio for Dummies, 3nd Edition (May 2018)(book)
https://www.amazon.com/Ham-Radio-Dummies-Computer-Tech/dp/1119454840/ is an excellent resource to answer the “Why Ham Radio?” question. After you get a license, what can you do with it?
Please check back for updates!
Additional training slides here: