Get licensed, get on the air

New to all of this? Read these first:

• What is ham radio? — plain-language intro, license classes, and how it differs from GMRS, FRS and CB
• What a license costs — dated fee table (as of Oct 2026), 10-year term, renewal, grace period, call signs
• Parents & youth — safety, privacy, cost for minors, youth programs
• Scouting & ham radio — Radio merit badge, JOTA-JOTI (Oct 16–18, 2026), hosting, volunteering
• Clubs and Elmers — find a mentor, a club, a net and a hamfest
• Technician HF & propagation — exactly where a Tech can transmit on HF, and why bands open and close
• Listen first — hear real contacts today on online receivers (WebSDR, KiwiSDR) or a cheap RTL-SDR, no license needed
• Your first station — what to buy first (and skip), the handheld legality trap, antenna before radio
• Buying used — safe venues, scam red flags, how to pay, how to test a used radio
• Community — YLRL, Handiham, YOTA, veterans, seniors, hamfests, magazines, podcasts, forums
• Upgrade & become a VE — what General and Extra add, pool dates (new General pool July 1, 2027), VE requirements
• Learn CW — sound-first Morse, free classes and practice, first contacts
• Glossary — plain-language definitions of the jargon
• Try it: Field Day (fourth full weekend of June; visitors welcome at the GOTA station)
• Serve: Emcomm · SKYWARN (no license needed) · Public-service events

Then you are here for three things, in order:

1. License — study, exam day, callsign
2. First net — HT on a local repeater without freezing
3. First portable day — an easy park or summit after that

The full walkthrough — Technician through Extra, first HT, repeater, first net, then the portable bridge — lives on the Master Field Guide Overview.

Start the walkthrough After the callsign lands: First POTA activation (Technician VHF) — ULS grant, Field Sheet, 146.52 simplex, 10 QSOs, Doctor. Practice Element 2: Ticket to Talk.

Parking lot, no cell, paper still works: Parking-lot Field Sheet pack — band-by-time crib, France Active reminder, paper log / QRT / bailout (companion to the Field Sheet, not a spots page).

Saturday activating and hunting sit under that same Overview section. This page intentionally stays a stub so we do not maintain two copies.