Customer Reviews

Technician Class: 2006-10 FCC Element 2 Amateur Radio License Preparation

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The strength of this book is for people who already are somewhat familiar with the material and want to study the quiz questions and reinforce their knowledge - to go from 60% right (failing) to 100% right. I wouldn't recommend this book as one's first introduction to HAM essentials -- for that, one may want to purchase the "Arrl Ham Radio License Manual: All You Need to Become an Amateur Radio Operator", which is a more comprehensive classroom text... study that book for fundamentals, and then also study the Gordon West book, and you'll ace the exam.

If you're looking to get your ham radio license, I would recommend this book to anyone. It is simple to read and understand and makes learning what you need to pass the test pretty painless.

There are other books like the ARRL Ham Radio License Manual that go into a more indepth overview of the history and more details on many topics, so both books complement each other. The detail in the ARRL manual is very helpful to better understanding the more technical answers, but with Gordon's book, you won't get as lost in the details.

If you ONLY want one with a goal of passing the test so you can get on the air, I think Gordon's book would be my first suggestion. I'd suggest reviewing his book a few times and taking the few available online tests that have no cost associated with them as practice. Reading the book and taking the tests and you'll have everything memorized in a couple weeks and have no issue whatsoever passing the exam.

I also picked up a copy of his 4 Audio CDs and ripped them into iTunes and synced them to my iPod. Gordon is extremely enjoyable to listen to and has a tremendous amount of enthusiasm. It complements the book, but I would say you would be better off with just the book vs just the audio CDs. If you can get both and listen to them in the evenings or during your commute, I think it would be an added benefit.

Update 8/4/2007: I passed the exam with a perfect score! Thanks Gordon!!

This is a complete and concise guide. Everything you need to know to pass the Ham Technician Class exam is here. The questions are well organized into sub-categories that allow you to study one area at a time until you are well-acquainted with the material. I easily passed the exam the first time thanks to this insightful guide.

I read through the book and used the software to prepare for the Technician exam. It couldn't be easier. I was ready to take the exam almost over night. When I did get the opportunity to take the real test, I made a 100.

Book has a few good tips, but basically is simply a compilation of the pool of questions (with answers) the Technician Class exams are drawn from--and this is freely available elsewhere. I found his exposition of the answers to generally not be very helpful--somewhat in the vein of "this is the answer because this is the answer." Nonetheless, one DOES need the list of questions and answers to review for the exam.

West's guide helped me pass the Element 2 exam on the first try - after only two weeks' prep! It is nicely formatted, showing not only answers to the test questions, but also helpful tips and procedurals. Looking forward to getting Gordon's guide for the Element 3. 73 to you!

Very good book for those looking to get right to the heart of passing the Technician test. Not too much theory here, but the discussion of why a particular answer to an exam question is correct is better than having to dig it out of the ARRL book. This gets right to the questions and answers, which is why you would buy this book in the first place. The enclosed CD seems to me to be not much more than an advertisment to become a ham operator.

This book is an excellent review of exam questions for those who have some general electrical engineering knowledge. A true novice may need more detailed explanations to properly understand what's going on.

That said, the book (now in the 6th Edition) suffers from poor editing. There are a number of grammatical errors, incorrect words or word forms, and not all acronyms are included in the Glossary. Many acronyms are used before they are defined several pages later, leading to some confusion. I also found the Carrier, Sidebands and Bandwith figure deficient.

Worth the money, explanation is great.
Wish that the answers had been hidden better.

This book is amazing and will teach you everything you need to know to pass the license test. I did this book and could have passed after 3 months, but due to scheduling conflict did it today a year later. I did very little refreshing between the 3 months and year mark. You learn the information and will retain it. There are others book out there that I'm sure are good but this will only teach the important stuff you need. The others will tell you how to set a clock, but you have to build it first! Gordon lays it out there in a way that will help all.