About
Built by a ham, for hams.
HamBeacon is the work of Blue Heron Data, an independent software studio building tools for the amateur radio and Apple communities.
Why HamBeacon
A study app that respects your time.
HamBeacon was built by a licensed amateur radio operator who wanted exam prep that did the hard part for you. It shows exactly what to study next, explains the why behind each answer, and never charges a monthly fee to keep access to questions that are free and public to begin with.
Blue Heron Data
Small studio, no subscriptions.
Blue Heron Data makes a focused set of apps and tools, some free and some paid, always with a one time price and never a subscription. Your purchase is yours, your data stays on your devices and in your iCloud, and there are no ads or trackers.
What we believe
A few principles we hold to.
No subscriptions
One time price, yours for good. No recurring fees, ever.
Private by default
No accounts and no tracking. Your progress syncs through your own iCloud.
Official pools
Built on the public domain NCVEC question pools, reproduced unmodified.
Made for the community
Designed around how hams actually study, by someone who has taken the exams.
More from Blue Heron Data
Other tools from the studio.
Ham Radio Contact Mapper
Turn your ADIF logs into interactive maps of every contact you have made. A free WordPress plugin.
VisitCalcLedger
A tape calculator for iPhone, iPad, and Mac with specialized tools for ham radio, finance, geometry, and more.
VisitFlexDSP Studio
A macOS companion that brings every FlexRadio DSP control into one panel, alongside SmartSDR.
Visit