So many resources for ham radio, so little time...

I wish half the resources for learning about ham radio were around when I was a kid trying to get a license or for anything else I wanted to research back in the bad old days before the internet.  With all the websites and search engines available today there's absolutely no reason for anyone not to be able to learn about just about any topic they choose.

When I was trying to get licensed back in the 70's, my resources were a book full of old tests put out by a company called Ameco and their LP Morse Code record (all at 5 wpm).  I didn't have any good theory books breaking it down for beginners.  There was no YouTube with videos to help me.  There was the ARRL Handbook with lots of schematics of tube transmitters and receivers and plenty of ads for Vibroplex "bugs" but nothing like what we have today.

The hardest thing about learning today is with all the resources available you can get sidetracked into different topics fairly easily.  You start researching resistors and end up taking an algebra class to tweak your understanding of ohm's law.

The biggest obstacle to understanding I see these days is that people are lazy!  Too many want to be spoon fed everything they need to know.  They don't put in the effort to find things out on their own, and when I say "on their own" I mean most often not bothering to do any internet searches.

1. Want to learn something?  Your first stop should be Google.  Google is a website and these days it's also a verb.  You hear it all the time.  "I Google'd that" or "Why don't you Google it?" etc.  Go to Google's search page and type in various words to find websites that can help you learn what it is you want to learn about.
   
2. Bookmark your sites and organize them by topic.  Researching low pass filters?  Google "low pass filter", visit some of the sites and copy their locations into a bookmark folder or subfolder.  Here's just part of the listing I got from that search:
   
   
   
   
   Go to any of the sites and do some reading or play with some of the calculators they bookmark the most useful ones for later.  Speaking of useful sites:
   
3. Wikipedia.  Wikipedia is awesome!  Sure, some of the content is not absolutely accurate, but most of the scientific articles (at least those not dealing with evolution) are accurate, plus you should always look at the "references" and "external links" list at the end of the articles to find sources that are referenced.
   
4. The ARRL website.  First, I have to say this site is poorly designed.  It's hard to find things on it without spending a LOT of time playing around on it.  After 5 years it's almost just hard to find things.  That said there are a lot of really good resources on the site -- if you can find them.  The QST archives alone are worth a visit and search through.  Here you'll find information on question pools (also available elsewhere), test sites, license classes, FCC rules notices, and lots more.
   
5. YouTube.  This one should probably be listed 2nd, but they're all great resources.  YouTube has videos on more than just surprised cats and talking dogs.  You can find just about anything on YouTube.  The electronic videos range in quality and content so you may need to browse through a few on any given subject.  Some of the best (and worse) are the old military training videos.  The graphics are really cheeseball compared to "Transformers 3D" but they get the ideas across.  If you're a real egghead you can even find engineering level videos and stuff from classrooms like MIT lectures.

So, asking people for the answers is OK, most hams love to share their knowledge with others, just be aware that there are a ton of resources out there for you to use and if you do you'll soon find yourself bogged down with people coming to YOU for answers all the time.

73 and good learning.  Kevin AB2ZI