BARC Technician License Classes
The Bloomington Amateur Radio Club/Bloomington ARC has two instructors, Bill Wootten and Tom Henderson, who’ve been certified by the American Radio Relay League / ARRL to teach licensing classes.
The classes use ARRL materials and are designed to give students a background in the four areas of the test that are required to be studied to pass the FCC Amateur Radio License Exam.
The course materials can be obtained from Amazon, or the ARRL and consist of a license study guide.
Amateur radio use requires a license that is granted by the Federal Communications Commission / FCC. We amateurs are a self-monitoring and policing group of people using specific equipment to communicate locally, and across the world.
The Bloomington ARC has Volunteer Examiners that offer testing for the FCC for amateur radio tests under the auspices of the ARRL. We test once per month, usually on the first Saturday of that month at noon, EDT. The results of these tests are sent to the FCC, which will in turn, grant a license once the test is passed by an individual.
The Technician Licensing Exam is the entrance into amateur radio. It covers radio, FCC rules, and amateur hobby basics. The exam is considered basic and once passed, grants operating privileges.
The Technician License allows operators to use voice (phone), CW (Morse Code), digital (FTx and other digital modes) on a number of frequency bands with power limited on certain bands.
The General Class License increases the allowable frequency bands and power that can be used. Many communications modes are less limited with this license.
The Amateur Extra Class License allows maximum use of all amateur radio allocated frequencies and is perhaps the most difficult license to obtain.
The Bloomington Amateur Radio Club has many members of each of these license classes, as does the American Radio Relay League / ARRL. There are a 100+ active amateurs in Monroe County, and many times that number throughout South Central Indiana. About 740,000+ currently hold licenses in the USA.
All licenses are offered for ten years, and must be renewed. The first license cost, and each renewal or callsign change is $35 (you receive a callsign with passage of your first license exam and can change it to something else, called a “vanity” license having constraints by license class).
However, those 18 years old and under can receive a license subsidy by the ARRL and Bloomington ARC which makes their license free in 2024. There is also a license testing fee charged by the ARRL for all tests. The Bloomington ARC will waive these fees for youth age 18 and under.
Newly licensed Technicians may also apply for a free handheld transmitter (called an “HT” in ham parlance) from QRZ.com if they do so within thirty days of becoming licensed.
Classes are forming for February, May, and August 2024 and will be held at the downtown Monroe County Public Library on Saturdays. These are four hour classes; four classes are held for each session on two adjacent weekends at the library. Materials must be acquired prior to attending the class.
For more information and links to obtain the license manuals used for the Technician Class License, please email contact@bloomingtoradio.club.
Practice Exams
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