FLAGSTAFF — Despite the snow, the editor of the Northern Arizona Gazette, Glen Davis, went to Flagstaff for the Saturday morning amateur radio licensing examination.

To get a license to operate on amateur radio frequencies, one must pay $15 for the examination. If you pass one, you can go onto the next test until you fail. If you fail, you must pay another $15 to try or just take the level you achieve. You can try again at the next examination cycle. The examinations are overseen by the Coconino Amateur Radio Club. Contact information and test dates can be found at their web site.

Davis took the examination for Technician—the lowest level of Amateur radio license—in November and obtained the call sign KG7YDJ. On Saturday, he passed the test for the General license and took the examination for the Amateur Extra license.

“I was surprised that I passed even though I had been studying the exam questions for the past three weeks,” he said.

You must pass each examination with a minimum score of 74%. The license examination for the Technician and General license is 35 questions taken from a pool of questions maintained by the National Conference of Volunteer Examiner Coordinators. You must get 26 of the 25 question correct. The examination for the Amateur Extra license is 50 questions of which you must get 37 correct.