Contact a member of the Springhill Amateur Radio Club to find out a local test date and location. It is likely the test can be administered in or near Springhill.
An exam, authorized by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), is required for all levels. These exams are administered by Volunteer Examiners, accredited by the FCC-recognized Volunteer Examiner Coordinator (VEC) system. The people giving the tests are all hams and want to see you get your license.
The Technician Class and General Class exams consist of 35 multiple-choice questions, drawn randomly from a pool of at least 350. To pass, 26 of the 35 questions must be answered correctly. The Extra Class exam has 50 multiple choice questions (drawn randomly from a pool of at least 500), 37 of which must be answered correctly. The tests cover regulations, customs, and technical knowledge, such as FCC provisions, operating practices, advanced electronics theory, radio equipment design, and safety. Morse Code is no longer a requirement to get a license.
Once you pass the exam, the FCC issues an Amateur Radio license for 10 years. It is renewable for another 10 years without retesting. Studying for the exam is easy because the entire question pools for all license classes are posted on line and in study guides you can purchase. The question pools are updated every four years and re-published on-line and in new study materials. The exact questions and the exact multiple answers are in the study guides. You just don’t know which questions will be pulled from the overall pool of questions for your individual test.
There is a fee of about $15 to administer the test via the VE system. There is no charge for the license itself and no charge for the local people giving the test. If you pass the first test, there is no charge to take the second test so give it a try also. It will give you experience for future tests. IF you pass, you can transmit as soon as you are assigned a call sign and it appears on the FCC data base which can be access online.
Tests are generally scheduled monthly in Shreveport and Texarkana, and also administered at most hamfests (ham gatherings). Local ham examiners are generally willing to give you a test as soon as you feel you are ready to take it. Just contact any club member on this website and they will assist you in getting you to a scheduled testing session or set one up for you.