On 8/30/2016 1:08 PM, Dave Platt wrote:
In article , rickman wrote:

Hey, thanks. I followed every link I could find on their site and
didn't find these. Great! I'm thinking I'll just study and get all
three and not have to bother with going back to take them one at a time.

Not a bad idea! Most of the VE groups will let you take all three
tests for a single fee (assuming that you keep passing).

That being said: I'm not a fan of "study just the test questions, and
cram the answers" approach to getting a ham license. A lot of people
do get their Technician licenses that way, but they tend to be
somewhat lost afterwards - they often don't understand the "why"
behind the answer.

This may be OK for a Technician who just wants to communicate with
family and friends on a pre-programmed radio, but it doesn't work so
well at the General and Extra levels. Even at the Tech level, a fair
number of people who get their ticket after a one-day Ham Cram session
never seem to get on the air.

For the Amateur and Extra licenses, at least, I'd recommend getting
the ARRL license manuals and actually reading through them at least
once (you might be able to get current copies of the current manuals
through a public library, or from someone who has recently passed the
exams).

If you've got a solid understanding of radio and electronics theory
already, this may not be necessary, at least for the questions in
these areas. There's still a fair bit of material in the General and
Extra exams which relates to legal issues e.g. third-party communication,
power levels, emission modes vs. frequency bands, RF exposure, etc.,
where you tend to need a combination of "understand the background of
the topic" and "memorize the specific details of what's in the current
regulations, which may not make any real sense but are Just So."

I'm an EE, so I have a lot of electronics background even if I'm not
really an RF guy. I'm going through the ARRL review for the General
license now. One question that is stumping me is about FM bandwidth.
Here is the question.

What is the total bandwidth of an FM phone transmission having 5 kHz
deviation and 3 kHz modulating frequency?

The correct answer is 16 kHz, (3 kHz + 8 kHz) * 2. But I don't get why.
The only page I've found so far that tries to explain refers to
"heterodyning" the carrier, the audio bandwidth and the maximum
deviation, Df. Df is not really a signal, it is just a parameter
describing the RF signal. Further, there is no hetreodyning.

Am I just getting hung up on terminology?

As to cramming the questions, I'm not sure I will ever use the license
to transmit. I think I'm just getting it to be able to say I have it.
I might learn Morse code as well, just for street creds.

Mostly I want to build receivers.

--

Rick C