Getting a license is easy. All you have to do is study and learn two-hundred fifty questions and get them all right. (HA!) No really, it depends on which license you want to start with. For a novice license, you will have a twenty-five question test and will have to pass a 5WPM Morse code exam. The technician exam is fifty-five questions long and no Morse code is required.

With a technician license, most of your communications will be local. The advantage, however, is that you can use ATV (fast scan television, dicussed earlier) and VHF packet (see What is Packet?), which is where packet bulletin board systems are.

With a novice license, you can do a lot of Morse code and some voice on the HF bands. However, you cannot use VHF packet (except 220, although this is rarely used). You will, however, be able to do a lot more chatting through packet with people on the HF bands rather than on the VHF bands.