[Donna Lee Nardo]

thecabal, the time it would take to get licensed is what will turn me away from pursuing a ham operator's license. I am not worried about anything else. For example, if I could get it in a month or two, fine. If not, then it is too drawn out as far as time for my purposes. I wanted to operate a ham for communication monitoring purposes only -- to know what's going on and to inform others. I do not wish to work alongside civil and gov. authorities in an emergency, however. In a pinch, yes, but that would not be my goal. The communications monitoring aspect is key for me. I guess I can get that with my scanner.

[Myrddin]

The contents of this book should take less than a week of effort. An Amazon review claims to have spent 1 week with this book and 10 minutes taking the test. The website to your local ham club will provide opportunities to take the test (schedules and locations).