SMU Amateur Radio Club (W5YF) Guide to

How to Get Your Own Amateur Radio License

To get your own amateur radio Technician class license, you only need to take a short 35 question multiple choice exam. All the questions and answers for the Technician exam are published and available online for free downloading (see website information below).

There is NO MORSE CODE requirement to get your own Technician amateur radio license.

Your technician license will open up the world of amateur radio to you, with VHF/UHF radio operations including amateur satellite and even amateur television operation open to you.

Foreign Students: You don’t have to be a U.S. citizen to get your U.S. amateur radio license. Non-citizens will need a social security number, or a taxpayer identification number, or simply register with the FCC to get your free FRN identification number for taking exams (see the FCC website for info at http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/cores/CoresHome.html for details).

Watch the ARRL Technician Video Training Tapes and review the ARRL Technician Q & A study guides and manuals at SMU’s Center for Media and Instructional Technology in Fondren Library West (SMU’s videotape and media library). You don’t need to be a student at SMU to view these tapes; we encourage members of the community to use these resources too!

You can watch the training videos at CMIT in their video kiosks. People with SMU library cards may check them out for overnight review. When asking for these materials, they are held under club advisor Dr. Milton Gosney’s reserve section at CMIT. Got questions? Call us at 768-3271

Download the Technician Exam Q&A question pool (free!) from ARRL website:

http://www.arrl.org/arrlvec/pools.html Your exam element #2 test will have 35 questions and answers taken from this published pool of questions (~75% or 26 correct answers is passing).

Check with Larry Herring (WR3J) for exam taking options at: http://www.dfwlist.org/

Exams are held every second Saturday morning (9 AM) at sessions in the Love Field area (the Business Jet Center at 8611 Lemmon Avenue). Bring the test fee ($12 currently) and at least two identification cards, at least one of which should be a photo-ID.

Need a map to the test site? See the link to maps on Larry’s page at http://www.dfwlist.org/

Need public transportation from SMU? Check with DART (214-979-1111 during weekday) for schedules of DART buses #51, #539, or #428 to Love Field on Saturday.

Got questions about the examination process? Call Larry Herring WR3J at 214-350-9580

Good luck! See our SMU W5YF club website for some study guides and notes at:

http://people.smu.edu/arc - SMU students, staff, faculty, and alumni may use the SMU W5YF amateur radio club station (other visitors by arrangement), so you don’t need to spend a lot of money to get started having fun with your Technician license on the air – use your club station!