Try ten questions

1. Do you need to learn Morse code to get an amateur license in the United States today?

   • Yes, five words a minute
   • Only for the Extra class license
   • No, there is no Morse code requirement
   • Yes, but only if you want to use HF

   The Morse requirement was dropped in 2007. Plenty of operators still learn it because they enjoy it, and there is a whole world of it on the bands, but no exam asks for it.

2. The Technician exam is 35 multiple-choice questions. How many do you need right?

   • 18
   • 26
   • 30
   • All 35

   26 out of 35, which is 74%. Every question comes from a published pool, so you can study the actual questions before you sit down.

3. A new Technician wants to talk across town on a handheld radio. Which band will they most likely use?

   • 2 meters, around 144 to 148 MHz
   • 160 meters, around 1.8 MHz
   • 60 meters
   • 23 centimeters

   2 meters is the everyday band for local work, usually through a repeater, and a handheld radio for it costs less than a pair of shoes.

4. What does a repeater do?

   • Records your transmissions so others can play them back
   • Boosts the power of your own radio
   • Connects your radio to the telephone network
   • Listens on one frequency and retransmits on another, from a high site

   Height is what buys range. A repeater on a tower or a hilltop hears your handheld and repeats it far wider than you could reach on your own.

5. How often do you have to say your callsign?

   • Only at the start of a conversation
   • At least every ten minutes, and at the end
   • Every time you press the button
   • Once a day

   Every ten minutes during a contact and again when you finish. It is the one piece of radio etiquette the FCC actually writes down.

6. Which of these may you not do with an amateur license?

   • Talk to a stranger a thousand miles away for no particular reason
   • Pass messages for a charity walk at no charge
   • Advertise your business or play music to entertain listeners
   • Talk to an astronaut on the space station

   Amateur radio is not a business tool and not broadcasting. No advertising, no music for an audience, no pay for operating. Volunteering at the charity walk is fine, and yes, people really do work the space station.

7. How much transmitter power are you supposed to use?

   • The minimum needed to make the contact
   • As much as your radio can produce, always
   • Exactly 100 watts
   • Whatever the other station is using

   The rule is the minimum power necessary. There are ceilings too, and they vary by band and license class, but the habit the exam wants is turning it down, not up.

8. Someone is in immediate danger and no normal channel is working. What may you do?

   • Nothing outside your license privileges, no exceptions
   • Only call another amateur station
   • Wait for an official to give you permission
   • Use any means of radio communication at your disposal

   When life or property is in immediate danger you may use any frequency and any means to get help. It is a narrow exception, and it exists because radio still works when the phones do not.

9. You hear a station calling "CQ CQ CQ". What are they saying?

   • They are asking everyone to keep the frequency clear
   • They are inviting any station to answer them
   • They are testing their radio and want no reply
   • They are calling one particular friend

   CQ is an open invitation. Answering it with your own callsign is how most people make their first contact.

10. Who can hold an amateur license, and for how long?

    • Adults only, renewed every year
    • Anyone over 16, for life
    • Anyone of any age, for ten years, then renew for free
    • US citizens only, for five years

    There is no age limit and no citizenship requirement, and the license runs ten years. Children pass it every week; so do people in their eighties.

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