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Two Self-Study Guides

No news here. I’m just using this page to consolidate information about the two study guides I’ve written:

Technician Class—The No-Nonsense, No-Code Technician Class License Study Guide is based on a method developed by Bruce W8BBS. What he did for the earlier question pool is to rephrase each question in the form of a statement and then organize the statments to make them readable. Bruce was unable to update his manual for the question pool that went into effect in July 2006, so he gave me permission to do it.
General Class—The No-Nonsense, General Class License Study Guide. This is the study guide for those taking the General Class license exam after July 1, 2007. It follows the same format as the Technician Class Study Guide. Note, though, that there are more questions in this pool, and in general, the questions are more technical than the Tech Class, so be prepared to study longer and harder than you did for the Tech test.

Please download these study guides and use them. I’d be interested in any comments, questions, compliments, or complaints that you have. E-mail me!

UPDATE 1/20/08
I just updated the Technician Class Study Guide. It’s nothing earth-shattering—I finally got around to updating the introduction to reflect the rules changes that occurred when they eliminated the Morse Code test.

By: Dan KB6NU | 2007/09/08 | Classes/Testing/Licensing - Elmering | Trackback | Comments [RSS 2.0]

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Comments

Ronny

Comment by Ronny | 2007/09/09 at 22:46:23

Dan,

As promised, last week I handed out your Tech Study Guide to the 20 students in my Amateur Radio elective class. I am taking the class in a self-study direction with “overview” by me. With quizzes to keep them honest, I hope to cover the basics pretty quickly, thus allowing the students plenty of time to get into hands-on electronics.

I will be using “100-in-1″ Science kits to allow the students to build basic circuits and discover how components work. Afterward, we will hopefully move toward breadboarding circuits. We’ll see how far we get…

As for learning electronic theory, I found that the visuals and info. from the “Electronics” section at http://www.electronicstheory,com seem to be pretty good.

I will also be using your General Study Guide, so I’ll let you know if I find any typos or portions in either of the Guides that seem to confuse teenagers. Again, thanks for taking the time to produce materials for the next generation.

By the way, I’m passing out Morse Code CDs tomorrow. Some of the kids are psyched to learn Code. Maybe we can arrange a “final” with my students having to work you using CW and obtain some information (e.g. favorite color, name of pet, etc..).

73 from Austin, Texas.

Ronny, KC5EES
Dan KB6NU

Comment by Dan KB6NU | 2007/09/10 at 16:23:02

Hi, Ronny.

Very cool. I’m up for working your students. I think I’ll have to get my 20m vertical back up in the air first, but that shouldn’t be a problem.

73, Dan
Shawn KB8UDE

Comment by Shawn KB8UDE | 2008/01/03 at 23:16:27

Loved the General guide. Got my upgrade this summer using it. Well, mostly. Only read the first few chapters and did the rest of the test with common sense and experience. I will definitely need the guide for my Extra though, so get writing!
Dan KB6NU

Comment by Dan KB6NU | 2008/01/04 at 10:45:37

Thanks for your comments, Shawn. Unfortunately, I don’t think there will be a No Nonsense Guide for the Extra Class license examination. There are just too many questions, and I just don’t have enough time to devote to it. The only way it might be possible is if I could enlist the help of some other folks to write some of the sections. Then, i could edit them and put it all together.

Hmmmmmm. The more I think about this, the more I like the idea. Anyone want to volunteer??

btw, I checked out your your picture on QRZ.Com. What a great looking station!
Jack KZ3Z

Comment by Jack KZ3Z | 2008/03/26 at 19:27:28

Dan,
Shawn KB8UDE showed me your guide, I used it to help teach a class of Boy Scouts. Three of them got licensed, and I’m starting another class next week with about ten people this time, even going to have three parents taking it. Two of the new Scout Techs want to upgrade to General when the others try for Tech so they can stay ahead of their buddies.
Dan KB6NU

Comment by Dan KB6NU | 2008/03/28 at 10:02:15

That’s great. Thanks for the feedback. Tell the scouts to download the General Class Study Guide when they get started on that.
Dan KB6NU

Comment by Dan KB6NU | 2008/03/28 at 17:49:31

Hi, Jack–

Thanks for the great feedback on my study guide. fyi, it’s going to be available very soon in a printed version. The cost will be $12, plus shipping. If you think you might be interested in this, let me know, and I’ll e-mail you when it’s ready. If not, feel free to continue to use the free version on my website.

73, Dan
Jon KG4SVF (soon N0SVD)

Comment by Jon KG4SVF (soon N0SVD) | 2008/04/21 at 06:45:09

Dan,

Your study guides seem to have garnered much praise. I’m starting to study for my General (so that a friend and I can study for Extra this summer while she’s off from school). I might be up for working on a rephrased-type guide such as this for Extra – we’ll see how it goes. Let me pass my General first and I’ll let you know :)

Hopefully sometime in the next month, I’ll go /AG.

73, Jon
Ed Culbertson

Comment by Ed Culbertson | 2008/07/04 at 01:36:22

Thanks for the general study guide. Got it done on 6/7/08!!
Dan KB6NU

Comment by Dan KB6NU | 2008/07/04 at 12:50:50

Excellent. Congratulations!
Jay

Comment by Jay | 2008/10/22 at 14:13:49

Dan

I would like your permission to use your “The No-Nonsense, Technician Class License study Guide” for an upcoming class this November. It looks great, just what I was looking for. I’m not sure how many people we will be having but if I could print about 10 copies at my office that would be great.

The PDF file says to get permission and the WEB page says to just print and use it, just don’t want to step on any toes.

I used to use the Now Your Talking book with the teaching manual, it was ok after I rewrote a good piece of the teaching manual to speed things up. I have not taught a class in 2 years and my stuff does not match there new book, so now would be a great time to change.

Thanks again, this will save me a ton time.

n0mdf
Jay Jagerson
7620 158th Ave NW
Ramsey, Mn 55303
Dan KB6NU

Comment by Dan KB6NU | 2008/10/23 at 09:30:12

Of course you have my permission. As long as you’re not charging for the class, you’re free to use it.
Jay

Comment by Jay | 2008/10/25 at 22:01:39

Thanks Dan

We we give it a Whirl.

And nope, we are not charging for the class, never have and never will.

I’m writing up the paper work and lesson plans now, if anybody wants a look at them I would be more than happy to share when I get done.

Thanks again,

Jay
Brian

Comment by Brian | 2008/10/28 at 19:19:15

Dan,
Thanks for all your hard work in making these 2 study guides. I just passed my Tech test a couple days ago. Not sure I could have done it without your guide. I decided to get into the Amateur radio hobby only a few days before.

I am now studying for the General test and I am using your guide once again.

Thanks,
Brian
Ron WD4AHZ

Comment by Ron WD4AHZ | 2008/11/11 at 12:19:07

Hi Dan,

We recently held a One-Day Tech Class and gave each of the students a copy of your manual. This was our first “experiment” with this format.

Had about 15 students signed up for the course, and sent them your manual. Several mentioned they weren’t ready and a few others didn’t show, but we ended up with 7 people at the “review” session. We went over a few of the chapters, when the students “revolted”! They wanted to skip the review and go straight to the test! So, we obliged and gave them their exams … and 6 of them passed on the first try – one aced it and none of the others missed more than 2 or 3 questions! One took another shot, and missed 4 his second go, so he passed as well!

They stayed around after testing, and we had a great “Question and Answer” session with them!

I had my doubts how well they’d be able to do with just that simple Tech Guide, but they erased those doubts after seeing them do as well as they did! Some of them expressed interest in getting their General license, so we provided them with that manual.

I’ve got 10 people or so lined up (and may pick up a few others at a CERT class this week) to go through the process again in January! We’ll probably skip the review, and go straight to the testing … and do another “Q & A” session after the testing.

Thanks for putting this together and offering it up for folks to use.

Ron, WD4AHZ
Dan KB6NU

Comment by Dan KB6NU | 2008/11/11 at 12:20:55

That’s interesting, Ron. I hadn’t thought about asking them if they’d like to skip the class entirely. We have had some bail at the first break and then come back later to take the test, though.
Ron WD4AHZ

Comment by Ron WD4AHZ | 2008/11/11 at 20:08:04

The thing the folks mentioned to us, was that they didn’t want us to fill their head with more “stuff”! They already knew the material (we could tell since they knew all the review answers as far as we went), and just wanted to take the test. I guess the bottom line is, if someone wants it and studies hard enough, they CAN pass the test. They were all pleased with the material and very appreciative of the help and support we gave them along the way.

Ron, WD4AHZ
Dan KB6NU

Comment by Dan KB6NU | 2008/11/12 at 09:29:51

I like the idea of “not filling their heads with too much stuff.” :) Most of them will, at some point, want to know some of that stuff, but they can learn it when they need to, not when we think they need to.
Robert Fridell

Comment by Robert Fridell | 2008/12/14 at 16:23:09

I would like to thank you for the selfstudy guide that I downloaded…Thanks.

I used it to study and passed the tech. class test on Friday. The VE’s shoke my hand and stated it sure was nice to find someone that was completely prepared to take the test…I aced it..

They asked me to take the Gen. test, but I’m not ready yet..I’m reading your Gen. guide and don’t expect any problems in passing the test next month.

Thanks again..I’ll be setting up shop soon, Bobby
Dan KB6NU

Comment by Dan KB6NU | 2008/12/15 at 08:20:15

Hey, welcome to ham radio, Bobby. I’m glad I could help. Let us know what your callsign is when you get it, and maybe we can have a QSO sometime.
Jacob KC2UFP

Comment by Jacob KC2UFP | 2009/03/29 at 14:40:03

I just used the General Class Study Guide (couldn’t get the ARRL Manual in time) to study for my General Exam. Prior to this, I had tried studying by taking the eham.net practice tests, and while they helped, when I went and took the test, I failed (22/35) when I went for the exam. What happened is I was memorizing the WRONG answers I kept on selecting when I took the test, lol. Well, I printed out KB6NU’s General Class No-Nonsense Study Guide at the recommendation of a fellow JSARS club member (who passed his exam the month before with 31/35) and re-took the test. I passed confidently with 32/35 (91.7%)! Thanks Dan, and we now have the two guides borrowed (the ones we printed) to two more members who took the test the same day I did and failed, I’ll update later with their results. Me and John (who recommended the booklet to me) are confident they’ll pass easily.

Thanks for the study guide, and the only comment/criticism we have is … WHEN WILL THERE BE AN EXTRA GUIDE?

Thanks again, and 73’s de KC2UFP!
Dan KB6NU

Comment by Dan KB6NU | 2009/03/29 at 18:27:28

I don’t think I’ll be getting around to the Extra Class Study Guide for a long time, if at all. My next project is a kid’s Tech Class study guide. See http://kb6nu.com/lets-publish-a-study-guide-for-kids/.
mike

Comment by mike | 2009/04/15 at 02:06:01

Dan, I haven’t taken the exams yet but ty for the study guide!!! As a computer tech I have a couple suggestions you might take or leave as suits you. First I didn’t find your site and guides when googling at all, it wasn’t until I posted on a newsgroup that a ham referred me to this page. You might consider looking into search engine optimization so more people can find this information.

Also, you might consider converting these guides into wiki’s. I’m not sure off hand what they use for the wikibooks project but you could load it onto your webserver or just publish them as wikibooks. This way people can make corrections (I’ve noticed a number of minor errors like missing ‘it’ ‘a’ and other connector words that spellcheck doesn’t catch) and even expand on the information. You could even start a wikibook for the extra class guide, start an outline and just work on it bit by bit as you get a chance and let others fill in as well. Maybe put the extra questions the sections of the outline need to answer under the section so people know what information HAS to be there.

With a wiki anyone can edit it as easily as they can post right here but there is a history of revisions so you can always selectively revert back anything that isn’t correct or if some mean spirited vandal comes along. Wikibooks have the advantage of being indexable by google (so you get search credit for all that content) or if you go with the wikibooks project you just credit your own site in the books and you’ll get a serious pagerank boost from being linked by wikipedia! Last but not least they can be printed.

Anyway thanks for the guides, much appreciated!
Dan KB6NU

Comment by Dan KB6NU | 2009/04/15 at 15:11:22

Thanks for the comments. What terms were you using to search for the study guides? I just Googled “tech class study guide” and “amateur radio tech study guide.” I ranked #5 for the first term, #1 for the second term.

As for the wiki, I don’t think that I’ll be doing that. The biggest reason for that is that it would be yet another website to maintain, and I just don’t have the time to do that. If you could e-mail me or print out and snail mail me the errors you found, I would be happy to make the corrections to the PDF.

Thanks, Dan
Jon Slough KB9ATR

Comment by Jon Slough KB9ATR | 2009/10/13 at 00:06:24

The St Louis and Suburban (SLSCR) radio club held another weekend Cram Course review session that finished on Sunday. For the first time we had an Extra class course. Both participants in the Extra Class course passed, one with a perfect score!

The extra class was in four sessions, not three like we usually have for Tech and General, because of the larger question pool. We also asked that the participants bring TWO results of on-line test that they had to have at least a 60% to take the course.

The Tech and General Study Guide have been a great help to several of our new licensees as the other training material from other sources just did not make sense to them. Your help them pass with flying colors.

Now for a question, when are you going to have an Extra Study Guide?
Dan KB6NU

Comment by Dan KB6NU | 2009/10/13 at 08:23:16

Congratulations on the excellent results.

We’ve actually started on the Extra Class Study Guide. Go to hamradiouniversity.com and click on “Extra Class Study Guide.” I’d love it if you could contribute a section or two.
John

Comment by John | 2010/01/05 at 01:12:55

Dan, I noticed that your latest study guides have copyright notices, with the following statement on them:

“All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.”

I like to print these out for use in some classes, as well as post them on a club website for download. Is this ok to do?

John
Dan KB6NU

Comment by Dan KB6NU | 2010/01/05 at 11:50:36

Hi, John–
Please feel free to print as many copies as you need, BUT I request that you not put it on your website. The main reason for this is that from time to time someone points out an error or a typo, which I correct and then put the corrected version on my website. If you link to my website, rather than simply posting the current version on your website, then they will always get the latest and greatest.
Dave H

Comment by Dave H | 2010/02/07 at 11:34:32

I want to say THANK YOU for your no nonsense guide for Tech. I used it and got 100 on my tech test within 1 week. I get my call sign tomorrow and have started shopping for a radio!!!!
Dan KB6NU

Comment by Dan KB6NU | 2010/02/07 at 20:12:14

You’re very welcome, Dave. I love getting feedback like this. :)

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