My oldest son, who just turned 15, passed the first two levels (out of 3) of Ham Radio exam at one sitting.

There are three levels: Technician, General, and Amateur Extra. He studied only for the first two, and he aced both tests 35/35.

We're very proud of him, as one might expect.*

Here is a picture of the 8 guys who only passed the Technician exam -- they all tried the General exam and failed. So it's not drop-dead easy or anything like that.

You're allowed to take the next level of test for free, until you get a failing grade. My son tried the Extra exam (which he didn't study for at all) and only got 20/50. But that was expected. When you study ZERO for something, the only way to pass would be A) if it were just common sense or common knowledge, or B) if you had some sort of infused knowledge.

I guess we'll call this one of his homeschool classes -- hahaha.

Here are some sample questions from the Extra exam:



E9G08
8. What is the process of normalization with regard to a Smith chart?

• A. Reassigning reactance values with regard to the resistance axis
• B. Reassigning impedance values with regard to the prime center
• C. Reassigning prime center with regard to the reactance axis
• D. Reassigning resistance values with regard to the reactance axis

E2B06
9. What is vestigial sideband modulation?

• A. Narrow-band FM modulation achieved by filtering one sideband from the audio before frequency modulating the carrier
• B. A type of modulation in which one sideband is inverted
• C. Spread spectrum modulation achieved by applying FM modulation following single sideband amplitude modulation
• D. Amplitude modulation in which one complete sideband and a portion of the other are transmitted

E4D11
10. Why are odd-order intermodulation products, created within a receiver, of particular interest compared to other products?

• A. Odd-order products of two signals in the band of interest are also likely to be within the band
• B. Odd-order products overload the IF filters
• C. Odd-order intermodulation produces three products for every input signal within the band of interest
• D. Odd-order products are an indication of poor image rejection

E7G10
5. What absolute voltage gain can be expected from the circuit in Figure E7-3 when R1 is 1800 ohms and RF is 68 kilohms?

• A. 1
• B. 76
• C. 38
• D. 0.03

E9D04
6. Why should an HF mobile antenna loading coil have a high ratio of reactance to resistance?

• A. To lower the radiation angle
• B. To minimize the Q
• C. To minimize losses
• D. To swamp out harmonics

* Our girls (and our 2 year old boy) excel at other things not related to Ham Radio (hahaha) -- I don't mean to take away from them at all, it's just that today was Dominic's day in the sun, if you know what I mean. In other words, my usual warnings apply: If I say "Pizza is good" you must not logically conclude that I believe "hamburgers are bad". I'm not shy. If I believe hamburgers are bad, I'll certainly let you know. I don't beat around the bush. I know I'm off on a tangent here, which is why this is a footnote. But I get real tired of logical fallacies, especially jumping to conclusions or putting words in my mouth. Because it's so useful to rational discussion, everyone should study Logic at some point.

Well done - son and father!

And well done, Mum! It is such a pleasure to see our children doing well after a grand effort on the part of all parties.

Good job.  Glad to hear good news!

I was studying for the first two several years ago. Something came up and I forgot about it even though I bought the radios and books. I believe you can take the practice tests online, is that still true?

Good to see that those guys in the picture aren’t wearing masks!

Yes, you can take the practice tests online. But the real thing usually needs to be in-person. There are a few organizations offering tests online (they are proctored by remote observers).
Masking is like anywhere -- some really like to, some would rather not, some downright refuse. Fortunately the head guy that does testing here is REALLY against them. And of course I'm against them too.

Bravo for Dominic!

I would not have an issue in the world, with using ham radio prep and testing as science homeschool credit.  I offered my son the opportunity to do this, but right now, he's just not feeling it.  He always wants to use my Baofeng (and I must refuse), and I have told him, if he would get his license, I will get him a Baofeng just like mine, and we can use those for simplex, glorified walkie-talkies, you could say.  Maybe in time.  Baofeng is pretty downmarket, but it basically gets the job done.

Talk such as this makes me wish I had my 40-watt mobile-turned-base-station back.  I sold it a few years ago for extra cash, as I found myself never using it.

It was similar to this:

He's done very well for himself. I just glanced at the sort of questions one might face for the exams he aced perfectly, and they look hard enough as it is. And with his already solid score in an exam he didn't study for at all, I'm sure he's bright enough to ace it if he ever re-attempted it in all seriousness. Congratulations to him.

As a follow-up --

On August 7th (right before our vacation to KS) Dominic took the Amateur Extra exam and passed with a score of 100%.

As a follow-up --

On August 7th (right before our vacation to KS) Dominic took the Amateur Extra exam and passed with a score of 100%.

Congrats!