Your chances of finishing the task and getting your license are solely limited by your personal drive. I can tell you this, it won't be easy, as I got my first license back in the late 50's this way so I know from experience. You miss out on the personal experience aspect of learning from someone who has already been there, done that, and got the t-shirt to prove it.
Top
HamBone College --- This program has been resurrected by the members of the DBARA. It is a good method for learning all you need to know to pass the required examination to get your first level of license and be familiar with how some of the equipment of today functions to enhance that exhilarating experience of the first's, time on with your call sign, antenna, and gear. Until you have done that you haven't done anything really exciting.
Getting on the air the very first time with all of your own stuff is sort of
like taking that first step, or taking your first solo flight in an airplane
without your instructor sitting there as a safety blanket. You have to
experience it to know it.
The goal of HamBone College is to take you
from the "wanting to be" ham stage to sitting down in front of a Certified Volunteer Examiner (VE) to walking out the door knowing that in a very short time the FCC will be mailing you your first FCC Amateur Radio Station License and Call Sign in the US Mail.
HamBone College wants to take your beginning experience even further by familiarizing you, the potential new licensee holder, with live on the air experiences before you get your own license and setup your very own ham radio station. We know what an intimidating factor that can be knowing that you can get on the air but have "cold feet and sweaty palms" because it is something you have never done. You get the personal experience aspect of learning from someone who has already been there, done that, and got the t-shirt to prove it.
To learn more about the forth coming classes to be taught by the HamBone College team click your mouse on any of the hyper-links to HamBone College and keep checking back to the web site or listen to the K4BV repeater on your scanner (147.150 MHz) or VHF radio for news announcements. Better yet call one of our Points of Contact and talk to a real live person to get your name on the list for the next class being scheduled.
Top
Volusia Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Service (VARECS) --- VARECS is a group of dedicated amateur radio operators whose primary function is to provide Volusia and surrounding counties with trained amateur radio operators to assist in providing several county an governmental agencies with back up communications. They have many knowledgeable, highly trained people in their organization that are a great asset, source of information and conduct bi-monthly ham license exams.
They however do not offer training or instruction on getting your Amateur
Radio License. See calendar for proposed
EXAMINATION dates.
Top
ARRL On Line --- Available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week as an on line course supported by an accredited college. One of the more expensive but most convenient methods for the "limited time available student or on the go person."
Top
Practice on-line exam site
I just saw the Daytona Beach ARA on the arrl.org <
http://arrl.org/>
web site and I noticed that you offer help for newcomers. I just created a
set of free online exam practice tests that I hope hams will find useful.
Within the practice tests, online study resources, (Wikipedia, NASA,
ARRL, etc...), are provided for many of the questions. The list of resources
available for each question is constantly growing because users can add
their own favorite links to the study materials. Users can also track their
test scores over time and see which sub elements are giving them the most
trouble. You can see all the practice tests at:
http://copaseticflow.blogspot.com/
Please let me know if you find it handy, or if you think of any ways to
make it better. Also, if you think it's useful, please feel free to add a
link to the practice exams at your site. Thanks!
73 de KD0FNR Hamilton Carter
PS The tests were mentioned recently on kb6nu.com <
http://kb6nu.com/>
at:
http://kb6nu.com/new-online-test/
you can also see comments about the practice exams on the QRZ forums:
http://forums.qrz.com/showthread.php?t=180904
Updated on
02 September 2010