Amateur radio wiki National Amateur Radio Alliance

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Getting started

Brand new to amateur radio? Start here.

8 pages in this section

Amateur radio is a licensed radio service that lets ordinary people build, operate and experiment with two-way radio. This section is the shortest path from "I have never touched a radio" to "I am on the air".

Work through the pages in order, or jump to whatever you are stuck on. Nothing here assumes any electronics background, and nothing here costs money to read.

Related topics: licensing for the exam itself, the station for your first radio, and whatishamradio.com for the plain-English version with pictures and no jargon at all.

In this section

Last updated Aug 31, 2026. Page history · Sign in to edit