Daytona Beach

Amateur Radio Association, Inc.

Post Office Box 9852
Daytona Beach, FL 32120-9852
"Information Hotline" (386) 226-4618
Home of K4BV "Daytona Beach's Friendliest Repeater,"
(147.150 MHz, +600 KHz Offset, No Tone)


Welcome to the Daytona Beach Amateur Radio Association's Ham Bone College

DBARA has a teaching arm named "HamBone College (HBC) which is our answer to getting started in the greatest hobby in the world called amateur radio or as it is commonly referred to as "ham radio."

I live in the Daytona Beach Area an I want to become a "Ham Radio Operator!"
So you think you are interested in getting your Ham Radio License?  That's great, as it is a good hobby to be engaged in.  How do I go about it?  There are several methods available to you at this time:

Home Study --- Home study by yourself is a tough way to go but it is not impossible to get yourself ready this way to take the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) mandated examination.  You can find a myriad pile of quality home study books or on line programs at local books stores, out of ham radio related magazines or on line. www.arrl.org 

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.

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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.

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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.

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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."

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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

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A special thanks goes to Arthur J. Byrnes for hosting
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