Passing the exam is the start, not the finish. This guide is a plan for the four weeks after your license is granted: what to check on the first day, then one focus a week, each linked to the guide or tool with the details. The ARRL’s newly licensed pages cover many of the same questions, from first equipment to keeping a record of your contacts.
Day one
Your call sign appears in ULS
- Look yourself up and save your official license. Day one checklist
- Check the RF exposure from your station before you transmit. RF exposure evaluator
Week 1
Listen, program, call
- Program your local repeaters and simplex channels. Programming a radio
- Listen for a few days, then make your first contact. Making your first contact
Week 2
Find your people
- Find a local club and a mentor. Clubs, mentors and nets
- Check in to a net. Checking in to a net
Week 3
Keep a log, try something new
- Log your contacts in UTC and request your Logbook of The World certificate, which waits on a postcard. Logging and confirming contacts
- Try a satellite pass, a digital mode, or the HF privileges your license includes. License privileges
Week 4
Take the radio outside
- Hunt a park activation from home, or activate a park yourself on simplex. Parks and summits
Sources: 47 CFR 97.5, Station license required (eCFR); 47 CFR 97.13, Restrictions on station location (eCFR); Rules (Parks on the Air); Getting Started with LoTW (ARRL)
The day your call sign appears
You may transmit as soon as your license grant appears in the FCC’s Universal Licensing System (ULS) database, and not before (47 CFR 97.5(a); Technician pool question T1C10). The licensing guide explains the steps between the exam and the grant.
- Look yourself up. ULS License Search finds a license by call sign, FRN or name.
- Save your official license. The FCC no longer mails licenses. It emails a link to your official copy when the application is granted, and you can sign in to ULS License Manager at any time and use the “Download Electronic Authorizations” link (FCC).
- Check your name, mailing address and email. A license grant must show all three correctly, and the FCC may revoke or suspend a license when its email is returned as undeliverable because the address on file is wrong (47 CFR 97.23; Technician pool question T1C04). The postal address matters too: Logbook of The World mails a postcard to it, as described below.
- Check RF exposure. Before your station transmits from a place where it could expose people to RF fields above the FCC limits, you must make sure it complies, either by confirming it is exempt from a routine evaluation or by evaluating it (methods for amateur stations are described in the FCC’s OET Bulletin 65, Supplement B), and act if the fields could exceed the limits where people can be (47 CFR 97.13(c)). The RF exposure guide and the RF exposure evaluator walk through it.
- Practice your identification. Give your call sign at the end of each communication and at least every 10 minutes during it; on voice, identify in English, and a phonetic alphabet is encouraged (47 CFR 97.119). The phonetic speller spells your call for you.
Week 1: listen, program, call
Put the local repeaters and a few simplex channels into your radio’s memories. The programming guide explains what each setting does and how to load many channels with CHIRP. Then listen for a few days: how people call each other, how long they pause, and when the local nets meet. When you are ready, the first contact guide walks through a full exchange, starting with your call sign followed by “listening” (Technician pool question T2A09).
Week 2: find your people
A local club is a good place to find help. The ARRL’s Find a Club search lists affiliated clubs within 25 to 250 miles of a ZIP code. Ask about a mentor, whom hams call an Elmer, and about the club’s nets. Checking in to a net is a low-pressure first transmission: net control tells each station when to talk. The clubs, mentors and nets guide explains how a directed net runs and what to say. If public service interests you, the emergency communications guide covers ARES, RACES and SKYWARN.
Week 3: keep a log and try something new
Start a log now, even a paper one. The ARRL recommends logging in UTC, changing the date at 0000 UTC, and never mixing UTC and local times in the same log (ARRL); the UTC clock converts for you. If you want electronic confirmations, request your Logbook of The World certificate this week: for a US call sign the ARRL mails a postcard with a password to the address on your FCC license, so allow time for the mail (ARRL). The logging guide covers logs, QSL cards and LoTW.
Then try something new. Technician, General, Advanced and Amateur Extra licensees may use all of the amateur bands at 50 MHz and above (47 CFR 97.301(a)), which includes amateur satellites and many digital modes. Technicians also have some HF privileges, listed in the license classes guide and on the band chart.
Week 4: take the radio outside
Parks on the Air is a simple way to start portable operating. You can hunt from home: hunters contact a station operating from a park and earn credit through that station’s log, with nothing to submit. Or activate a park yourself: 10 contacts from inside a listed park within one UTC day make a successful activation, and contacts through land repeaters do not count, so plan on simplex. The parks and summits guide covers both programs.
After the first month
Keep studying for the next license: the exam prep pages track your progress in this browser. Your license term is normally 10 years; the licensing guide explains when and how to renew.