Get your ham radio licence and make your first contacts

This step produces the foundation for everything else: a one-page plain-language cheat sheet you write yourself and keep next to the radio. It covers what the licence allows, not exam theory — no questions, no answers to memorise; that starts in the next phase. The FCC regulates amateur radio under Part 97, and there are three licence classes, in order: Technician, General and Extra. Technician is the entry class and the one you are after; General adds most HF voice privileges; Extra grants the full amateur spectrum.

A Technician holds full privileges on every amateur band above 30 MHz: 6 m, 2 m, 1.25 m, 70 cm, 33 cm and 23 cm — including voice on the 2 m and 70 cm bands your first handheld will use. On the HF bands below 30 MHz the grant is limited: CW and data on parts of 80 m, 40 m and 15 m, plus voice, CW and data on 10 m from 28.3 MHz up. Transmit power may reach 1500 W PEP on the frequencies you may use — that is the ceiling, not a target; a first handheld runs 5 to 8 W.

Now write the one-pager in your own words: the three classes with one line each, the six VHF/UHF bands, the HF limits, and the 1500 W PEP ceiling. Finish with one line on why people actually use the bands: emergency communications (nets, ARES, Skywarn), outdoor recreation (hikers and off-roaders beyond cell coverage), and the plain hobby — local conversations, satellites on 2 m and 70 cm, radio clubs. Keep it to one page and pin it next to the radio.