Ham Radio License Levels 2026: Technician, General and Extra

The three ham radio license levels compared

Each class adds one exam element. These are the numbers Part 97 sets, and the pools behind them come from the National Conference of Volunteer Examiner Coordinators (NCVEC):

Class	New element	Questions	To pass
Technician	2	35	26
General	3	35	26
Amateur Extra	4	50	37

General needs credit for Elements 2 and 3, and Amateur Extra needs all three. You can take more than one element at a session, and the examiners file one application for the highest class you pass.

The Technician exam →The General exam →

What do the ham radio license levels let you do?

Technician: every amateur band above 30 MHz, which the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) says is for talking locally and most often within North America, plus limited high frequency (HF) privileges.
General: some privileges on every amateur band and in every mode, including most HF frequencies from 160 to 10 meters, which ARRL says opens worldwide contacts.
Amateur Extra: all US amateur privileges, on every band and in every mode.

Those descriptions come from ARRL, the national association for amateur radio. The exact frequencies for each class are on the bands page.

US ham radio bands by license class →

The Amateur Extra license

Element 4 is the longest exam: 50 questions, and you need 37 right. Its pool is used for exams from July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2028, and ARRL says the exam covers specialized operating practices, advanced electronics theory and equipment design. Practical circuits and antennas and transmission lines get 8 questions each, circuit components and FCC rules 6 each, and safety just 1.

Only Volunteer Examiners (VEs) who hold Amateur Extra themselves can give the Extra exam. Extra also widens your choice of vanity call signs: ARRL says Extra licensees can pick from all four call sign groups, A to D, while General and Technician licensees choose from groups C and D.

NCVEC: 2024-2028 Extra Class Question Pool ↗ARRL: Upgrading to an Extra License ↗How to apply for a vanity call sign →

How do you upgrade to a higher class?

Pass the element for the class above yours at any exam session. If you already hold a license, the Certificate of Successful Completion of Examination (CSCE) the examiners hand you lets you use the higher class’s privileges straight away, until the FCC acts on the upgrade or for 365 days, whichever comes first.

The Volunteer Examiner Coordinator (VEC) files the upgrade for you. You can ask for a new, sequentially issued call sign at the same time if you want one.

Find an exam session →What an upgrade costs →

Novice, Advanced and expired licenses

Part 97 lists five classes: Novice, Technician, General, Advanced and Amateur Extra. No new Novice or Advanced licenses are issued, but people who hold them can keep and renew them. A Technician Plus renewal is processed as a Technician license.

If your old license expired more than two years ago, the FCC won’t renew it. You pass the Technician exam again, and then you get credit for higher elements: an expired General or Advanced license gives Element 3 credit, and an expired Extra gives Elements 3 and 4. A Technician license granted before March 21, 1987 also earns Element 3 credit. Bring proof of the old license to the session.

No class needs Morse code: Part 97 lists only the three written elements.

ARRL: Exam Element Credit ↗Print a reference copy of an old license →

Sources: eCFR · ARRL · NCVEC and 4 more. Checked October 2026.