Another new tech

[cockpitbob]

That's what I have as well.  I'm curious as to the shortcomings of the 8900.   Other than it's FM only?

I don't have an FT8900, but I sure can't think of any shortcomings.  4 bands with cross-band repeater and ARTS.  What more could a person want?
I can say I have an old FT2600 (2M mobile) I got at a ham flea.  It's badly beat-up and still functions perfectly.  If Yaesu's build quality is still as good the FT8900 will serve you well.

[raybiker73]

I'm already reading the general book.

Try the practice tests on QRZ.com, they haelp a lot.
Why not try for Extra at the same time? It's just a bunch of formulas to remember and a little more material...

Gil.

Listen to Gil, he's absolutely right. I took the Tech and the General at the same time, and after about a week I decided I needed to get the Extra. I wish I'd have done all 3 at the same time. There is very, very little difference between the General and Extra exams. Go for it.

[KC3AOL]

I'm already reading the general book.

Try the practice tests on QRZ.com, they haelp a lot.
Why not try for Extra at the same time? It's just a bunch of formulas to remember and a little more material...

Gil.

Listen to Gil, he's absolutely right. I took the Tech and the General at the same time, and after about a week I decided I needed to get the Extra. I wish I'd have done all 3 at the same time. There is very, very little difference between the General and Extra exams. Go for it.

When did you take the exams? I ask because I just took them over the summer and there was very little in common between General and Extra. Maybe they have changed since you took them?  General was much closer to the Tech exam, but with a little more math and a lot more about the band allowances. Extra was almost completely technical with some pretty heavy math and electronics.

Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk 4

[raybiker73]

I took the General in summer 2012, and the Extra in fall 2012, and they were remarkably similar. Does each testing session and site use different questions from the pools? It may be that we got significantly different chunks taken from the whole.

[gil]

Getting all three is not that hard. It just requires a lot of reading time. The ARRL books pretty much have the same chapters for the three licenses. So, you read one chapter from the Tech. book, then read the same chapter in the General book, then the Extra. So, you reinforce the same chapter every time, the same day. In the evening you do practice tests.. It takes two weeks that way. The formulas for the Extra are not hard. You just try to remember them and when to apply them. After I passed the Tech. and General, the guy gave me the Extra test. I had forgotten most of those formulas by then! Somehow I scored high enough... I really wanted a five-character call-sign!

Gil.

[RichardSinFWTX]

If you've got an Apple or Android tablet I highly recommend the exam prep apps by a guy named Patrick J. Malloney.  I just kept going through the practice tests over and over for an hour or two a day until I was scoring at least 30 out of 35 right every time.  After that I went to my club and took my tests.  I passed both my Technician and General exams scoring 34 out of 35 right each time!

The best part is...the Technician and General apps are FREE.  The Extra app does cost a little bit; but if it works for me that's what I'll use.

Just my two cents though...your mileage may vary.

[WA4STO]

Does each testing session and site use different questions from the pools? It may be that we got significantly different chunks taken from the whole.

The exact questions (always from the pre-published pools) are sent to the Volunteer Examiners by the Volunteer Examiner Coordinator(s).

So, for a given exam site, during two different sessions, the questions are very likely to differ.

Back when I was an active VE, I made it a point to schedule two different VECs for the same session.  That way, if somebody failed the ARRL exam, they could turn right around and take the W5YI exam.  Almost guaranteed to have different questions.  Almost guaranteed to cause the applicant to PASS! 

   Luck, WA4STO
ARRL A1-operator, BPL Medallion holder, circa 1977
VUCC Satellite (all CW)
NTS(D) Digital Relay Station, Central Area
NTS(D) Target Station, CAN, TEN & NE
TCC Station “Fox”

[extra_class_ham]

Just got home from Perkasie PA, took the tech test and passed, now to do some serious mobile radio shopping.

Welcome to the "brotherhood"