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Zero to General in 30 days?

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Fishmongerjoe

New Member
Nov 5, 2017
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Hi all, I have been doing the cb radio hobby since 2004 while trucking. Lost interest for a bit but have recently taken a renewed interest. This time of year is generally slow for me and I’m looking to fill some time.

A local amateur radio club meets every 3rd Thursday of the month and they do testing before the meeting. I’m planning on attending the February test. I’m fairly confident I can pass the tech exam right now. My goal is to walk out of the test facility with a general license (I know I’m not going to actually walk out with it, but you get the point).

I plan on dedicating 1-3 hours a day on learning/reviewing/practice test. I also plan on blogging the whole thing in this thread in hopes that it can, keep me on track, find and additional resources to help future aspiring hams once complete. Oh and I want to do all this with no out of pocket costs except the exam fee.

Wish me luck!
 
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Fishmongerjoe said:
Hi all, I have been doing the cb radio hobby since 2004 while trucking. Lost interest for a bit but have recently taken a renewed interest. This time of year is generally slow for me and I’m looking to fill some time.

A local amateur radio club meets every 3rd Thursday of the month and they do testing before the meeting. I’m planning on attending the February test. I’m fairly confident I can pass the tech exam right now. My goal is to walk out of the test facility with a general license (I know I’m not going to actually walk out with it, but you get the point).

I plan on dedicating 1-3 hours a day on learning/reviewing/practice test. I also plan on blogging the whole thing in this thread in hopes that it can, keep me on track, find and additional resources to help future aspiring hams once complete. Oh and I want to do all this with no out of pocket costs except the exam fee.

Wish me luck!
Click to expand...
You should go for it. Get your General on the same day, and them you can play in a much larger frequency range. Skip is almost always available on band or another.
Well it may not be skip, exactly but longer distances than CB.
 
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What I tell people is to take the free online sample tests.

Over and over.

The tests are made from a fixed pool of questions. By the time you do this the first couple dozen times you will have seen every question in the pool at least once, most likely.

The "reinforcement" step that tells you what you should have answered when you get one wrong will sink in eventually.

Just keep it up until you're getting a passing grade nine out of ten times.

By then the odds you'll pass the real test are really good.

73
 
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Thanks for the advice. Currently I’m about 1.5 hours into this video. So far it’s mostly regulatory stuff very cut and dry but from my understanding, a fair amount of technician exam question come from here.



Took a practice test here for the tech exam. Would have squeaked by with 26/35. The questions that trip me are the technical questions and the identification or components. They’ll get easier as I spend more time on it though.

https://hamexam.org/exam/12-Technician
 
Piece of cake. Since the “freedom of information act” all of the questions and answers are available on-line. Many older hams that earned the privilege the hard way by learning code etc. may feel a little disgruntled over it, but who’s the say they wouldn’t have taken this short cut also if it was made available to them. My advice, concentrate on learning the meaning of each question instead of just memorizing them. 30 days is valid a goal, but don’t be discouraged if it takes a little longer.
 


Started this video, it’s a continuation of the other. The audio is pretty bad but the info is there. Also knocked out another practice tech exam, got 30 of 35. I’ll keep doing the tech stuff until I have it cold before moving on to general. Thanks for the additional links you all have been posting, I’ll add them to my list of things to browse.
 
Study study study and memorize the questions and you will be fine. Try to retain what you learned after you pass the tests and earn your ticket. There are a lot of book smart hams out there who couldn't replace a light bulb without video instruction.
 
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tba02 said:
Hamstudy.org also is "smart" in that it will feed you the questions you miss and winnow out those that you get correct helping you focus on areas that are challenging.
Click to expand...

I used their practice tests when studying for my Technician license. Because I wanted to understand what I was learning rather than simply memorize the tests questions and answers, I also purchased The No-Nonsense Technician Class Study Guide by Dan Romanchik. The combination of the two worked great for me and I have a much better understanding of the working aspects of the hobby than before.

I am now reading Dan's book for the General Class and taking HamStudy.org's General practice tests. (y)
 
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Hamstudy.org is the best question study and test resource. Should be no problem unless you are one to freak out taking tests.

Be sure to use the flash cards too. There is a little tab on each one that helps explain each answer, and sometimes tricks to help remember the correct answer.
 
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sunbulls said:
Piece of cake. Since the “freedom of information act” all of the questions and answers are available on-line. Many older hams that earned the privilege the hard way by learning code etc. may feel a little disgruntled over it, but who’s the say they wouldn’t have taken this short cut also if it was made available to them. My advice, concentrate on learning the meaning of each question instead of just memorizing them. 30 days is valid a goal, but don’t be discouraged if it takes a little longer.
Click to expand...
Dick Bash is why the questions were released, before the “freedom of information act”.
 
Finished up part 2 of the tech video, was brutal, spent a ton of time on repeaters. I think they could have condensed that section.

Another practice exam, 29/35. I’m going to try the Hamstudy.org tests tomorrow for a change of pace.
 
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