Technician Mandatory?

[KB1TJY]

I have both Technician and General but for the life of me I cannot recall if the Technician is mandatory; I ask because a friend wants to obtain his license. Does he has to pass the Technician Exam first?

Thanks and 73's,

Lyman

[AK4MP]

yes. he will have to pass it

[WD3D]

I would suggest, that instead of memorizing the proper answer to the question, you buy both books and read them and study them and understand all the fundamentals of amateur radio and not just the answers on the test so he can get his license and so that you will become a better radio operator.

Just because a person obtains a license does not mean that you are done learning. Your goal should be to learn at least one new thing per a week, every week that you are a ham.

Eventually you will become a old ham and then you can give advice instead of just asking for it.

[K7JEM]

Eventually you will become a old ham and then you can give advice instead of just asking for it.

Then what the heck are you doing giving advice? How long you been licensed? FCC says less than a year.

[W0LPQ]

TJY ., how is it that you have both a Tech and General?? Not possible these days.
7JEM ... many of us have wondered the same thing.

[K0RGR]

If he takes both the Tech and General exams at the same time, he will have a General license. You don't have to hold the Tech before getting the General. If you took all three ham exams at the same time and passed them all, you'd have an Extra. For the most part, if he can pass the General written, he should have little or no trouble with the Tech, though the Tech is a little less technical and more rules and regs/operating procedures.

[K7MEM]

Then what the heck are you doing giving advice? How long you been licensed? FCC says less than a year.

I think you may be reading the FCC information incorrectly. When you pass a license exam, and you already have a call sign at a lower level, you have the option of keeping your existing call or having a "New Systematic Call Sign Assigned".

The FCC data bases available on line do not necessarily cover all of your licensing history. For example, my information shows my license was issued in 2000. That was the year I passed the Advanced, Extra written tests and 20 WPM code test. I obtained a vanity call sign a few years later. However, my license history actually goes back to 1965.