“The Cartoon Ham Exam Handbook” Is Now in Paperback

TLDR version: The Cartoon Ham Exam Handbook is now available on Amazon. Get a thank-you gift if you buy it this weekend!

I was in 9th grade struggling with memorizing my vocabulary words for my upcoming spelling test, when my mom made a suggestion that revolutionized the way that I studied for tests and quizzes from that point on.

“Why don’t you use cartoons to help you remember them?”

Mom knew that I was a big fan of Bill Watterson, Gary Larson, Tintin, Sherman’s Lagoon, and early pre-hippy Mutts. She also knew that cartoons stick in the brain. How is it that a kid can memorize every Pokemon card in existence, but they can’t figure out the names they need to know for their history test?

Mom’s suggestion was like a lightbulb going off. (My mom is smart that way.)

I drew a bunch of cartoons for my spelling test, aced the thing, and used that method to make it the rest of the way through high school and college.

When I finally came to the conclusion that I needed to study for my ham radio license, I once more realized that cartoons could come in handy. For those who aren’t electricians by trade or theoretical physicists, the information included on the ham radio licensure tests does not come naturally. It was really hard for me. My brain is cartoons and stupid jokes. Electrical diagrams and principles of physics weren’t any part of what I knew.

I think this absence of radio physics knowledge is pretty commonplace too.

But if you’ve come to the point where you want to get your family better prepared for a disaster and that using radio is a great way to make sure that your convoy of family members all know what’s up as you evacuate from an incoming hurricane, this lack of radio knowledge can prove to be a huge hurdle.

For many, it’s too large of a hurdle.

Yeah, they want to get their license, but after looking at a few of the online study guides out there, they’ve quickly come to the conclusion that this is a pie-in-the-sky pipedream.

My goal is to help those people.

I don’t think you shouldn’t be able to communicate with your family in a disaster because the licensing you needed to practice disaster comms had a ridiculously difficult test.

That’s why I created a cartoon study guide for the technician-level exam. It’s called The Cartoon Ham Exam Handbook.

We’ve had a PDF version of this up for a while now at SelfRelianceAndSurvival.com, but a paperback version was just released on Amazon. Personally, I’m a big fan of a physical book being in my hands that I can turn to and mark what I need to work on and what I already know. If you’re the same, you may appreciate this book. You can grab your paperback copy here.

There’s a cartoon that I drew for every single question of the Technician level ham radio licensing exam that will help you to remember the correct answer when you sit down to take that test. Obviously, I can’t make any guarantees that you’ll pass on the first attempt or anything like that – it is a massive question bank, and you do have to study – but I do think that this study guide will really help you out.

It’s a whopper of a book at 800+ pages, but it’ll teach you what you need to know.

Inside these pages, you’ll find VoltMater (a volt meter), Duktor – Fighter of Evil, and a bunch of little radios engaging in shenanigans to help get the point across.

I spent a lot of time drawing all these, and I think that you’ll like them. The goal is so that when you sit down to take that test, you’ll see the question, be reminded of the battery that was on a date gone wrong, and then remember, “Oh, yeah. That battery farted on his date. Leaking gas is one of the problems that an overcharged battery can have.”

I don’t know; maybe it will make for a more resilient America. I don’t have any illusions of grandeur here or anything like that, but if we can get more people throughout our country to take the steps required to have better off-grid comms, I think a lot of good could be done.

So check it out if you’re interested. I had a lot of fun drawing all of it (though, admittedly, I am no Bill Watterson. My “art” doesn’t deserve the name, but instead is what you would find in a bored high schooler’s notebooks.), and I hope that you’ll have a lot of fun reading it.

Buy it here: https://amzn.to/3DADAPk

AND…we have a free gift for folks who buy the paperback this weekend.

We want this launch to go really well and the more folks who grab it now, the better off we’ll be in the eyes of Amazon. (Which means the higher up we’ll show in the search rankings.)

We want to thank you for buying today with a FREE guide: How to Set Up an Ammo Box Ham Radio Kit for Rapid Comms.

This set-up is mobile and allows you the ability to dispense comms to your neighbors as needed. It’s a great little booklet with thorough advice on exactly how to add an extra layer of practical security to your emergency communications plan.

How do you get it?

It’s easy!

All you need to do to get it is to screenshot your receipt (or forward your email that shows you bought the book) to us at [email protected]. We just need some kind of proof of purchase.We’ll pop this back to you as an attachment in a reply. Please allow up to 48 hours to receive your freebie!

And please, please – if you find the book worthwhile, leave us a five-star review on Amazon!

What are your thoughts?

Do you know anybody that is taking the ham radio technician license anytime soon? Has studying for the test been the main hindrance to your getting your family prepared in regards to off-grid communications?

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Let me know what you’re thinking in the comment section below.

About Aden

Aden Tate is a regular contributor to TheOrganicPrepper.com and TheFrugalite.com. Aden runs a micro-farm where he raises dairy goats, a pig, honeybees, meat chickens, laying chickens, tomatoes, mushrooms, and greens. Aden has four published books, What School Should Have Taught You, The Faithful Prepper,  An Arm and a Leg, The Prepper’s Guide to Post-Disaster Communications, and Zombie Choices. You can find his podcast The Last American on Preppers’ Broadcasting Network.