Ham radio guides for beginners
Plain-English guides to getting licensed, choosing gear, putting up an antenna, and getting on the air — grounded in FCC Part 97 and ARRL references.
Getting started roadmapTo get started in ham radio, follow six steps: pass the US Technician exam (35 questions, need 26), buy an inexpensive dual-band…How to get your licenseTo get your US ham radio license, study the current Technician question pool, then pass the 35-question Technician (Element 2) exam by…What a license really costsPlan on $35 to $50 to get licensed in 2026: a $35 FCC application fee (paid online after you pass) plus an…Upgrading to GeneralGeneral is the license that unlocks worldwide communication: it adds transmit privileges on large portions of every HF band, all modes, and…US band plan & Technician privilegesA US Technician license grants full voice, data, and CW privileges on all amateur bands above 30 MHz, including the popular 2m…Making your first contactListen to your local repeater for a day, then key up during a quiet moment and say your call sign followed by…Repeaters explainedA repeater is an automated station, usually high on a tower or hill, that receives your signal on one frequency and instantly…Find repeaters near youUse RepeaterBook — it's free, community-maintained, and its phone app works offline with location search. Look up your county, note each repeater's…CTCSS & PL tones explainedA CTCSS tone (Motorola's trade name: PL tone) is a continuous sub-audible tone, between 67.0 and 254.1 Hz, transmitted underneath your voice.…How far can a ham radio reach?A handheld ham radio typically reaches 1-5 miles simplex, a mobile 5-15 miles, and a repeater can extend contacts to 20-50+ miles.…UHF vs VHFVHF (2 meters, 144-148 MHz) travels farther over open ground and vegetation, so it wins outdoors and in rural areas. UHF (70…Antenna basicsA ham radio antenna turns your transmitter's power into radio waves, and it matters far more than watts. The core types are…How to tune antenna SWRTo tune antenna SWR, sweep the band with an SWR meter or analyzer and find the frequency of lowest SWR. If the…Program a Baofeng with CHIRPTo program a Baofeng with CHIRP, install the free CHIRP software from chirpmyradio.com, connect a working FTDI programming cable, and download the…Digital modes for beginnersDigital modes send data instead of (or alongside) voice. The big five for beginners: FT8 makes worldwide contacts with a few watts…Work the ISS & satellitesA Technician license, a 5-watt dual-band handheld, and a small handheld Yagi are enough to talk through satellites. Listen to the ISS…Listen online without a licenseReceiving is free and legal in the US — no license needed to listen, ever. Start instantly in a browser with WebSDR…Emergency communications 101A workable emergency plan has three layers: a family layer (GMRS/FRS radios everyone can legally use), a local layer (your dual-band ham…Ham vs CB vs GMRSFor license-free family use, FRS bubble-pack radios are simplest. For more power, repeaters, and a whole family on one $35 license with…Grounding & lightningGrounding and lightning protection means bonding your antenna mast and coax to a single-point ground, adding a coax lightning arrestor where the…RF exposure safetySince May 2021 the FCC requires every US amateur station, at every power level, to perform and keep an RF-exposure evaluation. It…Ham radio glossaryHam radio has its own shorthand. "73" means best regards, "CQ" is a general call inviting any station to reply, and a…