--- title: Amateur (Ham) Radio description: Amateur radio is licensed hobby communication over radio. You will learn radio theory, regulations and licence exam material, equipment, antennas and operating modes from voice to digital. category: engineering subcategory: electrical-and-computer-engineering difficulty: beginner, intermediate, advanced url: /subject/amateur-radio --- # Amateur (Ham) Radio Amateur radio is licensed hobby communication over radio. You will learn radio theory, regulations and licence exam material, equipment, antennas and operating modes from voice to digital. ## Available Resources 2 Books • 3 Websites ## Podcasts ### 1. Ham Radio Workbench Podcast **Author:** George Zafiropoulos (KJ6VU) and co-hosts Biweekly technical roundtable hosted by George Zafiropoulos, KJ6VU, with co-hosts and guests covering test equipment, microcontroller and SDR projects, antenna measurement, QRP transceiver design and kit building. Show notes link the parts, tools and repositories discussed. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.hamradioworkbench.com/ **Tags:** amateur radio, test equipment, software defined radio, qrp, kit building, antenna measurement ## Youtubes ### 1. Ham Radio Crash Course **Author:** Josh Nass (KI6NAZ) Covers the hands-on gap no book or question pool fills: what a station physically looks like and what happens when you build one. Josh Nass, KI6NAZ, films antenna builds, radio teardowns, portable and field operating, digital-mode setup and equipment comparisons, generally measuring results rather than asserting them. Large back catalogue organised into playlists for newcomers, HF operating and shack construction. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.youtube.com/@HamRadioCrashCourse **Tags:** amateur radio, antenna building, hf operating, portable operating, digital modes, station setup ## Websites ### 1. WSJT-X User Guide **Author:** Joseph H. Taylor Jr. (K1JT) and the WSJT Development Team Digital modes are the dominant mode of modern operating and the part of the hobby most poorly served by secondhand tutorials. The guide explains the signalling and decoding design, not just menu clicks. Official documentation for the weak-signal software suite written by Nobel laureate Joe Taylor, K1JT. Covers installation, station and rig configuration, audio interfacing, and the protocol design plus operating procedure for FT8, FT4, WSPR, Q65, MSK144 and JT65. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://wsjtx.github.io/wsjtx/guide.html **Tags:** amateur radio, wsjt-x, ft8, digital modes, weak-signal communication, wspr ### 2. 47 CFR Part 97 — Amateur Radio Service **Author:** Federal Communications Commission Every operating question terminates here. The FCC regulations governing the US amateur service, in the official continuously updated electronic Code of Federal Regulations: licensing, control operator duties, prohibited transmissions, band and power limits, emission standards, repeaters, satellites, emergency operation and the volunteer examiner system. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-97 **Tags:** amateur radio, fcc part 97, radio regulations, amateur licensing, band plans ### 3. HamStudy.org Free flashcard and practice-exam site covering the current FCC question pools for Technician, General and Extra, plus Canadian and other national exams. Spaced-repetition tracking, per-question explanations, and exams generated the same way volunteer examiners build them. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://hamstudy.org/ **Tags:** amateur radio, license exam prep, technician license, general license, extra license, question pool ## Books ### 1. The ARRL Antenna Book for Radio Communications, 25th Edition **Author:** ARRL Inc. Antennas are where amateur practice actually lives and where the worst misinformation circulates; this is the one source that settles arguments with modelled and measured data. Reference on antenna and transmission-line engineering: dipoles, verticals, Yagis, loops and wire arrays, feed lines, matching networks, baluns, NEC modelling, ground systems, and HF through microwave propagation. Includes design tables, measured data and decades of accumulated ARRL antenna work. **Difficulty:** Advanced | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/1625951760?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** amateur radio, antenna design, transmission lines, impedance matching, nec modeling, radio propagation ### 2. The ARRL Handbook for Radio Communications, 101st Edition **Author:** ARRL Inc. The structural anchor for the topic: it teaches how radios work, not how to pass a test. The national association's reference volume on radio electronics: components, analog and digital circuit theory, RF techniques, modulation, receivers and transmitters, power supplies, propagation, safety and test equipment, with construction projects. Revised roughly annually and used well beyond the licence syllabus. **Difficulty:** Advanced | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/1625952015?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** amateur radio, radio electronics, rf engineering, receiver design, transmitter design, radio propagation --- *This content is part of Dantes.io - Your Treasure Map to Knowledge* *Curated by humans at Dantes.io. Personal study use welcome; republishing this curation requires permission (team@dantes.io).* View this page online: https://dantes.io/subject/amateur-radio