So there are 3 levels of certification (technician, general, extra). For each, I ordered the ARRL License Manual. The back of each manual has the pool of questions.
Then I searched the intertubes for videos of hams covering these levels of certification, and watched those videos. In the videos they focus on the material necessary to answer the questions on the exams, and go through the exam questions themselves. So I used a highlighter and highlighted the right answer while watching the videos.
Once done watching the videos covering the tech and general, I downloaded the ARRL exam prep apps for my iPhone. I started taking practice tests, saw what areas I didn't score well in, and revisited those areas in the license manual and online videos. I got to the point where I could take either the tech or general tests and pass 10 times out of 10 tries each, so I was ready to do it live.
The online videos are great, much better than trying to read the manual on your own and understand it all. The app was great to help me run through the question pool many times and develop a confidence that I was ready.
Online practice exams are available - much easier than pencil and paper. Just make sure they have the current pool. I would trust the ARRL to be accurate but I'm sure there are others.
I used a paid Android app (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.hamstudy.mobile). The interface was non-distracting, it's up-to-date with the current question banks, and it has a few modes of operation I find useful, like homing in on areas I was weak in. Nicest to me was an "I don't know" answer button to avoid the accidental negative training of having to guess and program a wrong answer in your memory. There's also an "Explain" button that gives a pretty good summary of the correct answer theory, at least enough to research it further.
I can't objectively say it's all you need. I wanted to be a ham as a kid and read everything I could get my hands on. Amazingly a lot of that is still in my head. I went to test for Technician and passed the General thanks to it. But using this app was pretty much all I did to pass Extra.
Awesome, thanks for sharing. I've got a Uniden scanner that I listen to a local repeater on. Apart from a fun hobby, I'm very interested in communications without relying on existing infrastructure.
Ham operation is by definition communications without relying on anyone else's infrastructure. I focus on HF frequencies (3-30 MHz) since they are the ones that bounce off the ionosphere and propagate globally.
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