What changed
Teaching license classes — edited Aug 31, 2026 by Unknown editor
This is the first recorded version, so every line is shown as added. Note: Imported from content/wiki
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Clubs that teach classes grow; clubs that wait for licensed people to find them shrink. A class is
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also the cleanest way for a club to justify its educational purpose to a school, a library or the
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IRS.
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## Formats
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- **One-day cram** — six to eight hours on a Saturday with an exam session at the end. Highest pass
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rate per hour invested, and works well for Technician; students learn the material for the test
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more than for the air, so pair it with follow-up.
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- **Weekly class** — four to eight evenings of two hours. More time for demonstrations, hands-on work
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and questions; better long-term retention, worse attrition.
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- **Self-study plus mentor sessions** — students work through a book or an online course and meet
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weekly to ask questions and practice. Cheap to run and scales to one instructor.
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- **Online** — a video call works, especially for General and Extra. Plan for shorter sessions and
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more breaks than in person.
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Whatever the format, end with a scheduled exam session on a known date. Classes without an exam date
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lose most of their students. See [hosting exam sessions](/wiki/clubs/hosting-exam-sessions).
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## Materials
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- A current license manual, matched to the question pool in effect — pools change on a three-year
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cycle and an old book will teach retired answers. See
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[studying for the exam](/wiki/licensing/studying).
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- Free practice exam sites, used from the first evening rather than the last.
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- Slides you did not have to build: several widely used course decks are freely licensed for club
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use, and NARA members can request material through the
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[National Presenters Panel](https://usnara.org/presenters).
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- A club-owned loaner radio or two, so the class is not theoretical.
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## Teaching it well
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- **Teach to the pool, but demonstrate reality.** Show a real SWR sweep when you reach the impedance
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questions; call CQ when you reach the operating questions.
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- **Do the math live and slowly.** Ohm's law, decibels and wavelength are where students quietly
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decide they cannot do this. See [decibels and power](/wiki/technical/decibels-and-power).
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- **Assign practice exams as homework** and track scores. A student consistently above 80% is ready;
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a student at 60% two sessions from the exam needs help now.
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- **Cover the rules honestly** rather than dismissively — band privileges, identification and control
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operator rules are the parts that matter on day one. See
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[rules and regulations](/wiki/rules).
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- **Say what happens next** before the exam: FRN and CORES registration, how long the call sign takes
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to appear, and what to buy first. See [after you pass](/wiki/licensing/after-you-pass).
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## Recruiting students
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Libraries, community colleges, parks departments and community-education catalogs are all looking for
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classes to list, and most will publicize yours for free. Scouts, CERT teams, storm spotters, search
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and rescue units, drone and rocketry groups and preparedness groups all contain people with a
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concrete reason to want a license. See [youth and schools](/wiki/clubs/youth-and-schools).
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## After the class
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Everyone who passes gets: an invitation to the next meeting by name, help programming their first
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radio, and a first contact arranged with somebody who is expecting them. That step is what converts a
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pass rate into an active operator. See
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[mentoring new operators](/wiki/clubs/mentoring-new-operators).