Site News

April 3, 2020 - Added 2020-2024 Extra exam pool for use on exams after Jun 30.

I added the new Extra question pool today. It is for use on all exams after June 30, 2020. Please e-mail me () with reports of any issues with the new question pool.


September 14, 2019 - Improved question pool page behavior when "All of these choices are correct" is the correct answer

The question pool page will now show all of the answers when you select "Only show correct answers" and a question has "All of these choices are correct" as the correct answer. It also hides the correct answer letter when this mode is enabled since the letters are hidden from the answers. Thanks to Jerry for the suggestion.


June 22, 2019 - Updated email validation to allow new top level domains

I updated the email validation code on the new user registration page to allow e-mail addresses from newer top level domains (like .family). Thanks to Justin for pointing out this oversight.


March 4, 2019 - Added 2019 General question pool.

I added the new General question pool today. It is for use on all exams after June 30, 2019. Please e-mail me () with reports of any issues with the new question pool.


July 10, 2018 - Added option to highlight correct answers on quesetion pool page

This option provides another customization option for reviewing the question pool.


July 9, 2018 - Improved password storage security and increased password strength requirements

I made significant improvements to the way passwords are stored in the database. These changes will not affect users unless the database is compromised. If this happens, the password hashes will be more difficult to brute-force than before.

It is still very important to use a different password on every site, even on seemingly insignificant sites like this, to prevent a compromised password from being used to log in to your accounts on other pages. Read Why a strong password doesn't help as much as a unique one for more information.

I also increased the minimum password length for new accounts to 8 characters and increased the maximum length to 50 characters.


May 4, 2018 - Added new Technician question pool

I added the 2018-2022 Technician question pool today. This pool will be used for all exams after June 30, 2018. Please e-mail me () with reports of any issues with the new question pool.


November 21, 2016 - Added reference material links

I added reference material information for the general and extra question pools with page numbers in the ARRL General Class License Manual and Extra Class License Manual books.


March 9, 2016 - Modified 2016 Extra pool with latest errata from NCVEC

NCVEC released additional corrections to the 2016 Extra question pool. These updates have been applied to the question pool on HamExam.org:

E1C05
Correction to FCC rule citation. Was [97.109] Should be [97.221(c)(1),[97.115(c)]

E3A01 Modification to distractor (D): Added the word stations at the end of distractor

E6D03
Modification to distractors (C) and (D):
Distractor (C): Added missing word of between the words presence and light
Distractor (D): Removed the word applying

E9A07
Modification to distractor (D)
Added the word losses after the words transmission line
See http://www.ncvec.org/page.php?id=365 for details.


February 9, 2016 - Added reference material links

I added a book icon to the flash cards on the technician exam that opens a list of study materials for that question. This is currently only available for the technician exam and links to the ARRL Ham Radio License Manual. I will add additional study materials and exams in the future.


February 9, 2016 - Added new Extra question pool

I added the 2016-2020 Extra question pool today. This pool will be used for all exams after June 30, 2016. Please e-mail me () with reports of any issues with the new question pool.


March 5, 2015 - Added new General question pool

I added the 2015-2019 General question pool today. This pool will be used for all exams after June 30, 2015. Please e-mail me () with reports of any issues with the new question pool.


July 22, 2014 - Added "skipped question" warning to practice exams.

The practice exam page now warns the user when one or more questions are unanswered. This should prevent users from accidentally submitting an exam without answering all of the questions.


April 26, 2014 - Added "Auto Submit" feature to flash cards

This feature allows you to click an answer and immediately submit the flash card for grading without clicking the submit button. It can be enabled on the Preferences page.


April 24, 2014 - Added new Technician question pool

I added the 2014-2018 Technician question pool today. This pool will be used for all exams after June 30, 2014. Please e-mail me () with reports of any issues with the new question pool.


October 20, 2013 - Submit button is now hidden on flash cards until an answer is selected.

This feature is meant to prevent users from accidentally submitting a blank response. Thanks to Stan Marshall for the suggestion.


February 28, 2013 - Removed E1D09 from Extra pool

Question E1D09 on the Extra pool was removed last summer but I didn't notice it. Thanks to Chris Black for pointing it out to me.


June 22, 2012 - Fixed wording on E7G13

There was a discrepency in the two versions of the NCVEC question pool for this question. Unfortunately I used the text version of the pool which was incorrect. I e-mailed NCVEC but never heard anything back. The question is now correrct on the site.


May 10, 2012 - Added new Extra question pool

I added the 2012-2016 Extra question pool today. This pool will be used for all exams after June 30, 2012. Please e-mail me () with reports of any issues with the new question pool.


April 19, 2011 - Fixed flash card timeout issue

I moved the site to one of my newer servers a couple of days ago. With that move came a PHP upgrade whichbroke the flash cards when question weighting is enabled. I think this problem has been resolved, but if you continue to get timeout errors on flash cards (or anywhere else) please let me know.


March 28, 2011 - Removed E1F13 from Extra Question Pool

Question E1F13 was removed from the current Extra question pool due to pending FCC rule changes regarding spread spectrum transmissions. See http://www.arrl.org/news/view/ncvec-deletes-question-from-amateur-extra-question-pool for details.


December 8, 2010 - Added 2011 General Question Pool

Today I added the brand new General question pool that was just released. It will not be used for exams until June 30, 2011. You should study the other question pool if you plan on taking an exam before then.


November 29, 2010 - Added Preferences Page and Password Reset Changes

Today I added a preference page which lets you set the following options:

This update also changes the "forgot password" procedure. Instead of e-mailing the current password, users are sent a link that takes them to a password reset page.


August 24, 2010 - Major Site Upgrade and New Domain

This is a long overdue overhaul to the entire site. The new site features:

In addition to the new features, I have moved the site to HamExam.org. This was necessary partly because I got a new callsign (NA0Q) and partly because the new name will be easier to remember.


February 2, 2010 - New Technician Exam

The NCVEC released a new question pool for the technician exam which is for all exams starting on July 1, 2010. This new question pool has been added to the site. Please report any problems with the new exam. There may be some typos due to the import process.


September 1, 2009 - Removed G0B14

Removed question G0B14 from the General question pool. This question was removed by the NCVEC.