FCC Technician Class Exam Study Guide - 2014-2018

Purpose

This book is intended to be a comprehensive study guide to assist the test taker in passing the Element 2 (Technician Class) exam in the United States of America. The authorship of the exams is entrusted to a committee within the National Conference of Volunteer Examiner Coordinators and the exam is provided on their website as a public document, available for all to prepare for. Due to the dynamic nature of cutting edge technologies and current social trends, the exams are re-authored every four years. The exam that is the purpose of this book is the one you will be taking after July 1, 2014 and before June 30, 2018.

Introduction

For nearly 100 years, amateur radio has been active in an uninterrupted state in the United States and a key innovator to many technologies seen as commonplace. Phone patches predated cell phones, packet radio preceded SMS messages and most importantly, these innovations were considered 'open source', long before 'open source' became the cool buzzword of the day.

For anybody interesting in experiential learning by being on the air or even building their own radio, this exam is a great starting point.

The Test Explained

There are ten subelements of the test. In addition to this document, you can get help from ARRL and their publications, local ham radio clubs

Subelement T1

FCC Rules, descriptions and definitions for the Amateur Radio Service, operator and station license responsibilities.

Within this section, you will see six exam questions from six groups.

Subelement T1 Group A

Subelement T1 Group B

Subelement T1 Group C

Subelement T1 Group D

Subelement T1 Group E

Subelement T1 Group F

Subelement T2

Operating Procedures.

Within this section, you will see three exam questions from three groups.

Subelement T2 Group A

Subelement T2 Group B

Subelement T2 Group C

Subelement T3

Radio wave characteristics and signal propagation.

Within this section, there are three questions from the three groups.

Subelement T3 Group A

Subelement T3 Group B

Subelement T3 Group C

Subelement T4

Amateur radio practices and station set up

Within this section, there are two questions from two groups.

Subelement T4 Group A

Subelement T4 Group B

Subelement T5

Principles of electronics.

Within this section, there are four questions from four groups.

Subelement T5 Group A

Subelement T5 Group B

Subelement T5 Group C

Subelement T5 Group D

Subelement T6

Electrical components and their functions.

Within this section, there are four questions from four groups.

Subelement T6 Group A

Subelement T6 Group B

Subelement T6 Group C

Subelement T6 Group D

Subelement T7

Setting up, testing and troubleshooting your radio station.

Within this section, there are four questions from four groups.

Subelement T7 Group A

Subelement T7 Group B

Subelement T7 Group C

Subelement T7 Group D

Subelement T8

Modulation modes, non-voice communication and operating activities.

Within this section, there are four questions from four groups.

Subelement T8 Group A

Subelement T8 Group B

Subelement T8 Group C

Subelement T8 Group D

Subelement T9

Antennas and feed lines

Within this section, there are two questions from two groups.

Subelement T9 Group A

Subelement T9 Group B

Subelement T0

Electrical Safety, power circuits, antenna installation and RF hazards.

Within this section, there are three questions from three groups.

Subelement T0 Group A

Subelement T0 Group B

Subelement T0 Group C

When you are ready...

There is a national database of scheduled exam locations. The ARRL is a resource for ham radio operators. There are magazines people subscribe to. Ham radio organizations exist as local clubs.