KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

///////////////////////////////////////////
2016 Extra Class Study Guide: Why you should get your Extra Class license

Posted: 10 Mar 2016 03:20 PM PST
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/kb6nu...m_medium=email


This is the new introduction to my Extra Class study guide. Id love to hear
comments.Dan

The Amateur Extra Class license is the highest class of license in the
United States, and perhaps the world. Many hams—even hams that live outside
the U.S.—aspire to pass the test and be awarded one.

There wasnt always an Amateur Extra Class license. The Extra class license,
as we know it today, was created as part of the 1951 license restructuring,
that also created the Novice and Technician Class licenses. (In 1951, the
Novice license was the beginners license. To get a Technician Class
license, you had to pass the written test that General Class operators had
to pass.)

Although it gave an operator no additional privileges, to get an Extra
Class license, one had to:

Pass a 20 wpm code test (Generals had to pass only a 13 wpm code test).
Pass a longer and more difficult written examination than the General Class
exam.
Have at least two years of experience as a licensed radio amateur.


Today, without the code test and the experience requirement, many hams
upgrade to Extra Class as soon as they can. Some even pass the Technician
Class, General Class, and the Amateur Extra Class exams in a single test
session.

So, whats the attraction? Why should you upgrade to Extra?

One of the reasons that you should upgrade to Extra is that you get use of
the entire 80 m, 40 m, 20 m, and 15 m bands. Portions of those bands, such
as 3.6 – 3.7 MHz in the 75m band and 14.150 – 14.175 Mhz in the 20m phone
band, are reserved exclusively for Extra Class licensees. Extra Class
operators also have exclusive privileges in the CW portions of the 80 m, 40
m, 20 m, and 15 m bands. These are the frequencies where the DX stations
hang out.

Another reason to get your Extra Class license is that only Extra Class
licensees can administer General Class and Extra Class license exams.
General Class operators can become Volunteer Examiners (VEs), but they are
only allowed to administer Technician Classe exams.

Another reason you might want to get an Extra Class license is to get a
fancy vanity callsign. Only Extra Class operators can apply for 12 or 21
callsigns, such as W8RP or KT8K. A short, snappy callsign can help you work
more DX or improve your contest scores.

Whatever your reason, studying for the Extra Class exam will open your eyes
to many aspects of the hobby that you may not be familiar with. And, as you
work your way through the material, youll learn things that make you a
better amateur radio operator and enable you to enjoy the hobby more. Based
on the comments Ive had from many readers, Im convinced that this study
guide will not only help you get your Extra ticket, but in the end, help
you have more fun with amateur radio.

My own story

I didn’t take the Extra Class test until 2006, 35 years after I got my
Novice license and almost 30 years after I got my Advanced license. At
first, it was the 20 wpm code test that put me off. At that point, I wasn’t
getting on the air enough to get my speed up to 20 wpm. Later in life, I
was afraid that I’d actually fail the written test. Besides, I had a good
rejoinder whenever I was asked why I didn’t have an Extra Class license. I
used to joke that I wanted to be the last living Advanced Class licensee in
the U.S.

After I started teaching amateur radio classes and writing these license
study guides, I decided it was time to get the Extra. Besides, some of my
students had already gotten their Extra Class licenses, and I found it a
bit embarassing to have “only� an Advanced ticket. So, in 2006, I decided
it was time to study up and take the test.

I used the ARRL study guide. It did the job, and the test was actually a
little easier than I’d anticipated. Even so, I got three wrong. I don’t
know that I’d have done any better if there had been a “No-Nonsense� study
guide available for me to use. My guess is that it would not have. There
are just so many things that you have to memorize that you’re bound to
forget something.

At first, I wasn’t planning to produce an Extra Class study guide. I am
basically a lazy person, and I knew that writing this study guide would
take a long time. The Extra Class question pool covers a lot more material
than the Technician Class and General Class exams, and the material is a
lot more complex, too.

In the end, though, I knew that I would do it. Every week, I’d get emails
from readers asking if or when a No-Nonsense Extra Class License Study
Guide was going to be available, and my product lineup was incomplete
without it.

That was four years ago, and this is the second edition of the No Nonsense
Extra Class License Study Guide. I sold thousands of the first edition, and
feel great that I have been able to help so many become Extras and enjoy
all that amateur radio has to offer.

How to use this manual

Simply read through the manual and take some practice tests. You will find
the answers to questions in bold. Question designators, such as “ (E5A07) “
appear at the end of sentences. This is so you can refer to actual question
in the question pool, if you would like to. You can take practice tests
online at QRZ.Com, AA9PW.Com, and several other websites.

Good luck and have fun!

I hope that you find this study guide useful and that you’ll upgrade to
Extra. If you have any comments, questions, compliments or complaints, I
want to hear from you. E-mail me at . My goal is to
continually refine this study guide and to continually make it better.

73!

Dan Romanchik KB6NU

, Twitter: @kb6nu

The post 2016 Extra Class Study Guide: Why you should get your Extra Class
license appeared first on KB6NUs Ham Radio Blog.