*Please see safety note added to the end of this post.
Exam is $14. If passed, the license fee is $35. Optional classes and study materials vary in cost.
(How much are Ham Radios? You can get a basic handheld model for $50. Start with one of those before deciding whether to spend big bucks on anything.)
There are 3 licensure levels for amateur radio operators. (There used to be more.) In the order: Technician, General, and Amateur Extra.
Average is 10-14 hours of study time to pass the exam.
The exam itself is 36 multichoice questions, randomly selected from a pool of 411 questions.
Yes. But only a little at the Technician Class level. (Edit: you can use a calculator too!) I encountered long division with decimal points and multiplication. This was only required by a couple of questions on the test.
If you have a math disability, I hope it reassures you to learn that folks allowed to miss up to 9 questions on the test.
The more licenses, the more priviledges. But you can start using a ham radio with just the Technician Class license.
No longer required for the exam.
I didn't attend a class. Instead, I used these two resources:
1. Godon West's book "2022-2026 Technician Class: FCC Element 2 Amateur Radio License Preparation". (Options: paperback or audiobook.)
2. HamStudy (it's a free phone app).
I started by reading the book. When I reached the questions and answers section, I focused on reading the questions, followed by their correct answers only. I purposefully avoided reading the wrong answer options. This helped heaps during the test. The right answer stood out as the familiar pair with the question.
I studied for Q&A portion for 30 minutes at a time, then took a break. When I returned from break, I would go back through the previous section's questions and try to recall the answers.
Taking a break, then attempting recall, helps develop memory retention.
After finishing the book, I used the free, HamStudy phone app. I adjusted settings to focus on 1 section at a time until I could get 100%. Once I had covered each section like this, I changed the settings to include and randomize the entire, 411 question pool.
You will need to sign up to get an FRN number from the FCC, before scheduling your exam. (It's like an FCC social security number.) I got the instruction for how to do it from the Gordon West book. But they are posted various places online as well.
You can find both on and offline testing teams (VEC's) here:
I chose to test online with W5YI-VEC for 3 reasons: Their header pun. ("Promoting ☢️Radio-Activity☢️ Nationwide with Friendly, Untimed Exams!"). Their profile page emphasizes accessibility accomodations. And they let me text their phone number to schedule a more convenient date and time.
I took the exam online. A panel of 6 people from the W5YI-VEC team observed through my webcam. The exam layout was reminiscent of the HamStudy app, which I appreciated. On average, people complete the test in about 20 minutes. I completed it in under 10. Some people take an hour. We dont all get the same 36 questions. So some tests will take longer than others. You've made it this far. Give yourself enough time in your day to not rush, no matter how confident you are.
My advice: this is where you want to carefully read every answer option. Don't just quick scan for key words between the questions and the answers. You'll make unnecessary mistakes that way.
My VEC team gave me my results right after I submitted the test. Then they emailed me a certificate. (This certificate is not your license.)
That evening, I got an email from the FCC with instructions for how to pay the $35 license fee. (My least favorite part of the entire process. For being the FCC, their instructions and website both suck.)
IMPORTANT: Dont try to pay your fee using your phone! That whole process is not mobile friendly. Trying can cause a bit of a glitch in their system. You could add more than a month to your wait time for a license. Just use a desktop computer for this part.
The FCC no longer issues a physical license. Instead, they post a record of your license to their "FCC ULS" database. You do not have a license until it is posted there.
IMPORTANT: Be sure to keep a current email on file with the FCC. If the FCC emails go to an address you're no longer using, or get lost in your spam box, the FCC can yank your license. No fun.
You are automatically issued a callsign with your license. If you want to choose your own callsign (aka, getting a "vanity callsign") you must wait until after you have your license and the original call sign that goes with it. Your pool of vanity call signs are limited by your level of license.
I'll exand on the Technician Class vanity callsign options, once I get the Gordon West book back. (It's on loan to a friend until December.)
The Gordon West book has things to say about this too. (I'm waiting on my license before I get my first radio.)
(Aside from gaining a skill for disaster response.) As a backpacker, I want to learn how to make a homebrew Garmin InReach. Amateur radio can do cool things with gps, send text messages, etc. I'm not tech savvy. And I'm not sure if I'll need a higher license class to do whatever that requires. So, I imagine that project could be much further down the road from where I am at present. It's an exciting thing to look forward to though.
Whichever address you get your radio license under will become public record, forever. My advice? For safety, use a PO Box from the very start. If you have a stalker, look into getting a forwarding PO Box in a different city if it's legal. Ask if you can use initials or shortened versions of your name before submitting any information to the FCC. Be consistent. Name on your exam and the name on your FCC account must match.
how you can help palestine
*i regularly update this post with any new info i find so please always reblog the original post*
palestine children's relief fund
palestine red crescent society
help bring down israel's weapon trade - palaction
save palestine - islamic relief canada
click to donate - arab.org
send medical supplies to gaza - palestinian american medical association
NOTE: journalists based in gaza are saying that donations are not going to help atm. what will help is a demand for ceasefire. so please contact your local MPs every single day demanding as such. palestine need a ceasefire right now, not money (i will update when monetary help is needed)
if you want to donate, do this instead:
help buy e-sims for people in gaza (PLEASE HELP CONNECT GAZANS TO THE WORLD. if you would like to stay updated, please follow @/Mirna_elhelbawi on twitter)
donate to get food packages to gaza - care for gaza
verified and endorsed by people in gaza themselves
support palestinians: buy a keffiyeh from the last and only factory in palestine - hirbawi
petition to investigate war crimes committed by israeli military
demand ceasefire - amnesty.org
open call for immediate ceasefire
american government call for immediate ceasefire
american government to stop funding israeli military
ceasefire and increase humanitarian assistance - oxfam au
petition to get canva to address their pro-israel stance
they have been deleting private pro-palestine posts
location specific petitions
gaza call for ceasefire - oxfam (UK)
end israeli occupation - parliament uk (UK)
email your MP - medical aid for palestine (UK)
stop fuelling genocide - action network (USA)
ceasefirenow.com - jewishvoiceofpeace (USA)
call congress and demand a ceasefire - uscpr (USA - they provide a script of what you should say, so don't worry about it)
note: you can call everyday. they tally the number of calls per issue. so more calls = higher chance for them to take action. p.s. you mainly go to voicemail so don’t worry about phone call anxiety. fight through it just this once please.
australia call on israel to stop attacking palestinians - apan (AUS)
sign to send letter to MP for ceasefire - nccm (CANADA)
ceasefire now! - ijv (CANADA)
ceasefire and allow aid to enter gaza - oxfam (CANADA)
canada house of commons petition 4649 (CANADA)
closes 23 Nov @ 3.20pm EDT
house of commons petition 4661 (CANADA)
closes 9 dec @ 11.03am EDT
cessez-le-feu et un couloir humanitaire - le mouvement (FRANCE)
write to your député - assemblée nationale (FRANCE)
skydda civilbefolkningen i gaza! - mittskifte (SWEDEN)
singaporeans call for immediate ceasefire (SIN)
contact your elected reps and demand a ceasefire (GERMANY)
write to the EU demanding a ceasefire (EUROPE)
template of letters you can send (EU)
guide on how to contact your MPs in EU
multiple actions you can take to help palestine - plant een olifbloom (NETHERLANDS)
includes: links for donations, emails to MP, emails to media, links to petitions and demonstrations
den haag, maak nú werk van vrede in israël/Palestina - the right forum (NETHERLANDS)
friends of al-aqsa
❥ UK-specific
urge your MP to speak up for palestine
hands off al-aqsa
stop administrative detention
petition for UK to stop arming israel
❥ International
boycott puma — email them to end their partnership with israel
boycott coca-cola
palestine action
join the resistance
islamic relief canada
urge your MP to rally for ceasefire
decolonise palestine
poster campaign to raise awareness on the war crimes being committed against palestinians | (very very important please share + read the sources provided)
text/call campaign for people living in USA
text CEASEFIRE @ 51905 to call for a ceasefire
text RESIST @ 50409 to send a letter to your representatives to pass HR3103–a bill that prohibits tax dollars from going to israel
download 5Calls app to contact members of your congress | (more info)
fax campaign for people in the USA
go on this website to send 5 free faxes per day
here’s a link to a pre-written fax copy you can download to send (the first link on the linktree)
here’s a video that explains how to fax your senator (it’s very easy and all you need is a valid email address)
BDS movement
get involved in boycotting companies associated with israel
please let me know if you have any more links. i will add them in. and please reblog the original post!!
PALESTINIAN LITERATURE READING LIST
im not really interested in engaging in moral discourse surrounding the relationship of zeus and ganymede bc 1. i like to leave things up to the viewer and 2. the inherent horror and tragedy of being the “most beautiful boy to exist” is more interesting to me since we’ve seen it play out horribly in real life. i take inspiration from björn adrésen, quotes from the young river phoenix, the lives of castrati and antinous more than anything lol.
i see ganymede being taken as something that mirrors the inevitable “death” that either occurs literally or metaphorically to beautiful young men. they either “die” by aging out of their perceived beauty or die in some tragic way that preserves their young grace in peoples minds. ganymede cannot die in the traditional sense as he is immortal, but him being taken is a “death” of sorts in that the memory of his beauty is frozen in time. the ganymede inside everyone’s heads will stay the same forever and can be deified both literally and figuratively.
so did zeus “kill” ganymede or save him? is there love in the “kill” and greed in his conservation? is there liberation in “death” when you are the most beautiful boy to exist? can you ever be liberated? is ganymede dead or alive?
THIS!!!!!!!!!! most of us feel like we aren't doing enough because we can't physically stop a genocide but speaking helps!! pressuring helps!! boycotting helps and protesting helps!! please don't give up on Palestinians not when the entire world has turned their backs on them
hrrrggghhhh......philosophy of art......praxis.........the idea that a certain level of complexity or a certain kind of technical skill is what qualifies something as art is bullshit.............so you have to think that way about your own art too you have to be consistent.........you have to choose how you refer to your art thoughtfully to reflect this or it will never sink into your brain..............save me jacob geller video essay "Who's Afraid of Modern Art" ............
you literally dont need a boyfriend. go help someone
Who are the Shompen?
The Shompen are an indigenous culture that lives in the Great Nicobar Island, which is nowadays owned by India. The Shompen and their ancestors are believed to have been living in this island for around 10,000 years. Like other tribes in the nearby islands, the Shompen are isolated from the rest of the world, as they chose to be left alone, with the exception of a few members who occasionally take part in exchanges with foreigners and go on quarantine before returning to their tribe. There are between 100 and 400 Shompen people, who are hunter-gatherers and nomadic agricultors and rely on their island's rainforest for survival.
Why is there risk of genocide?
India has announced a huge construction mega-project that will completely change the Great Nicobar Island to turn it into "the Hong Kong of India".
Nowadays, the island has 8,500 inhabitants, and over 95% of its surface is made up of national parks, protected forests and tribal reserve areas. Much of the island is covered by the Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserve, described by UNESCO as covering “unique and threatened tropical evergreen forest ecosystems. It is home to very rich ecosystems, including 650 species of angiosperms, ferns, gymnosperms, and bryophytes, among others. In terms of fauna, there are over 1800 species, some of which are endemic to this area. It has one of the best-preserved tropical rain forests in the world.”
The Indian project aims to destroy this natural environment to create an international shipping terminal with the capacity to handle 14.2 million TEUs (unit of cargo capacity), an international airport that will handle a peak hour traffic of 4,000 passengers and that will be used as a joint civilian-military airport under the control of the Indian Navy, a gas and solar power plant, a military base, an industrial park, and townships aimed at bringing in tourism, including commercial, industrial and residential zones as well as other tourism-related activities.
This project means the destruction of the island's pristine rainforests, as it involves cutting down over 852,000 trees and endangers the local fauna such as leatherback turtles, saltwater crocodiles, Nicobar crab-eating macaque and migratory birds. The erosion resulting from deforestation will be huge in this highly-seismic area. Experts also warn about the effects that this project will have on local flora and fauna as a result of pollution from the terminal project, coastal surface runoff, ballasts from ships, physical collisions with ships, coastal construction, oil spills, etc.
The indigenous people are not only affected because their environment and food source will be destroyed. On top of this, the demographic change will be a catastrophe for them. After the creation of this project, the Great Nicobar Island -which now has 8,500 inhabitants- will receive a population of 650,000 settlers. Remember that the Shompen and Nicobarese people who live on this island are isolated, which means they do not have an immune system that can resist outsider illnesses. Academics believe they could die of disease if they come in contact with outsiders (think of the arrival of Europeans to the Americas after Christopher Columbus and the way that common European illnesses were lethal for indigenous Americans with no immunization against them).
And on top of all of this, the project might destroy the environment and the indigenous people just to turn out to be useless and sooner or later be abandoned. The naturalist Uday Mondal explains that “after all the destruction, the financial viability of the project remains questionable as all the construction material will have to be shipped to this remote island and it will have to compete with already well-established ports.” However, this project is important to India because they want to use the island as a military and commercial post to stop China's expansion in the region, since the Nicobar islands are located on one of the world's busiest sea routes.
Last year, 70 former government officials and ambassadors wrote to the Indian president saying the project would “virtually destroy the unique ecology of this island and the habitat of vulnerable tribal groups”. India's response has been to say that the indigenous tribes will be relocated "if needed", but that doesn't solve the problem. As a spokesperson for human rights group Survival International said: “The Shompen are nomadic and have clearly defined territories. Four of their semi-permanent settlements are set to be directly devastated by the project, along with their southern hunting and foraging territories. The Shompen will undoubtedly try to move away from the area destroyed, but there will be little space for them to go. To avoid a genocide, this deadly mega-project must be scrapped.”
On 7 February 2024, 39 scholars from 13 countries published an open letter to the Indian president warning that “If the project goes ahead, even in a limited form, we believe it will be a death sentence for the Shompen, tantamount to the international crime of genocide.”
How to help
The NGO Survival International has launched this campaign:
From this site, you just need to add your name and email and you will send an email to India's Tribal Affairs Minister and to the companies currently vying to build the first stage of the project.
Share it with your friends and acquittances and on social media.
Sources:
India’s plan for untouched Nicobar isles will be ‘death sentence’ for isolated tribe, 7 Feb 2024. The Guardian.
‘It will destroy them’: Indian mega-development could cause ‘genocide’ and ‘ecocide’, says charity, 8 Feb 2024. Geographical.
Genocide experts call on India's government to scrap the Great Nicobar mega-project, Feb 2024. Survival International.
The container terminal that could sink the Great Nicobar Island, 20 July 2022. Mongabay.
[Maps] Environmental path cleared for Great Nicobar mega project, 10 Oct 2022. Mongabay.