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All,
I was in a recent conversation and the topic of how old the youngest US FCC licensed operator was and I said I thought 8 years old. Nope – FIVE years old! That is some serious reading comprehension for a five year old!
73
Phillip Beall (W5EBC)
https://grok.com/share/c2hhcmQtMg_0b60f7f7-9083-40e7-8cef-b30988c6eff3
My question to Grok: What was the age of the current record holder for the youngest person who was/is a US FCC licensed amateur radio operator?
Answer: 5 years old (tied by at least a few children, including Veronica Harrington in 1991 and Colton Ragsdale in 2015).
There is no minimum age for a US FCC amateur radio (ham) license—only passing the required exam(s)—and the youngest licensees on record were 5 years old when they earned theirs. Wikipedia and multiple news sources confirm applicants as young as five have passed and been granted licenses.
Key examples:
– Veronica Harrington (KC6TQR): Licensed around age 5–5½ in 1991 (Long Beach, CA). She appeared on *Late Night with David Letterman* in 1992 at age 6 and was widely reported as one of (or the) youngest US ham operators at the time.
– Colton Ragsdale (KE0CRD): Licensed at exactly 5 years old in January 2015 (Colorado). He passed the Technician exam (with the test read to him) and is frequently cited as among the youngest.
Other young licensees (e.g., around 7–10 years old) exist, but none younger than 5 have been reliably documented as holding the record. Claims of younger ages are unverified or refer to these same cases. Local or state “youngest” titles (e.g., 8-year-olds in specific counties) are common but do not surpass the national record.
The record has stood since at least the early 1990s (and possibly earlier), with no credible reports of a 4-year-old or younger passing the exams and receiving a license. ARRL and FCC sources do not track an official “youngest” title, but contemporary news, ham radio forums, and Wikipedia consistently point to age 5 as the benchmark.
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