licenses

Every Amateur Radio operator must be licensed by the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC). In order to obtain a license, a ham must
pass examinations in radio theory, rules and, for some licenses, international
Morse Code proficiency.
There are Amateur Radio operators from ages 8 to 80, and they qualify for
one of five grades of licenses, each at progressively higher levels of proficiency.
The five grades are Novice, Technician, General, Advanced, and Amateur Extra.
Higher classes of licenses have additional operating privileges. The minimum
license required to operate on the frequencies to the Shuttle orbiter and
on the future International Space Station is Technician.
The Amateur Radio operator’s call letters are issued by the FCC at the time
of obtaining a license. The first letter indicates nationality; in the United States
the first letters are A, K, N, or W.
There are several means of communicating with Amateur Radio in addition
to Morse Code (radiotelegraphy) and voice transmission (radiotelephony).
These include radio teletype, computer-data exchange, and fast scan and slow
scan amateur television.
AMSAT: The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation was founded in 1969
to provide satellites that can be used for Amateur Radio communication
throughout the world and to disseminate information derived from these communications.
For more information, write to:
Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation
PO Box 27
Washington, DC 20044
ARRL: The American Radio Relay League was founded in 1914 as the ham
radio operators’ organization. ARRL publishes monthly licensing guides, teacher’s
materials, technical journals and an annual handbook and is the representative
body with the Federal Communications Commission. For more information, write
to:
American Radio Relay League
225 Main Street
Newington, CT 06111
ARRL Web Site:
http://www.arrl.org/sarex/
AMSAT Web Site:
http://www.amsat.org
NASA’s SAREX Web Site:
http://www.ccsds.org/sarex/
Goddard Space Flight Center Amateur Radio Club:
http://garc.gsfc.nasa.gov/www/
Johnson Space Center Amateur Radio Club:
http://www.phoenix.net/~mbordel/index.html
Call Sign
References
and Resources
SAREX on the
World Wide Web