The Canadian Amateur Radio Basic Exam Prep course will cover all aspects of the current Exam Question Pool. This page provides a bit more details on the types of questions you can expect to find on the exam.
While this course is designed to prepare you for writting your Basic Qualification exam, you will write your exam through an ISED accredited examiner outside of this course. We will however provide you details on how to find an accredited examiner near you.
This course curricullum is designed to be in line with the latest Amateur Radio exam requirements in Canada. Since Amateur Radio in Canada falls under Broadcasting and Telecommunications Regulations, exam requirements are managed and defined by the Canadian Federal Government. The federal department responsible for administering Amateur Radio certifications and examination is the department of Industry, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED). ISED handles the administration of Amateur Radio Certification through the Amateur Radio Service.
On this page, we have broken the Canadian Amateur Radio Basic Exam Prep Curriculum down into various modules based on 8 core subject areas. Each subject area will cover a number of topics. There are a total of 100 topics across the 8 core subjects of study. To learn more about the various subjects and topics, click on each of the listed modules bellow.
Also, check out the Canadian Amateur Radio Basic Exam Prep – Course Description. If you still have questions the perhaps the Canadian Amateur Radio Basic Exam Prep – FAQ can help address your questions.
Canadian Amateur Radio Basic Exam Prep Curriculumn Module Outline
1. Regulations and Policies
The following topic areas will be covered as part of our sudy of Amateur Radio Regulations and Policies:
1. radio licences, applicability, eligibility of licence holder
2. licence fee, term, posting requirements, change of address
3. licence suspension or revocation, powers of radio inspectors, offences and punishments
4. operator certificates, applicability, eligibility, equivalents, reciprocal recognition
5. operation, repair and maintenance of radio apparatus on behalf of other persons
6. operation of radio apparatus, terms of licence, applicable standards, exempt apparatus
7. content restrictions – non-superfluous, profanity, secret code, music, non-commercial
8. installation and operating restrictions – number of stations, repeaters, home-built, club stations
9. participation in communications by visitors, use of station by others
10. interference, determination, protection from interference
11. emergency communications (real or simulated), communication with non-amateur stations
12. non-remuneration, privacy of communications
13. station identification, call signs, prefixes
14. foreign amateur operation in Canada, banned countries, third-party messages
15. frequency bands and qualification requirements
16. maximum bandwidth by frequency bands
17. restrictions on capacity and power output by qualifications
18. unmodulated carriers, retransmission
19. amplitude modulation, frequency stability, measurements
20. International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Radio Regulations, applicability
21. operation outside Canada, ITU regions, reciprocal privileges, international licences
22. examinations – Department’s fees, delegated examinations, fees, disabled accommodation
23. antenna structure approval, neighbour and land-use authority consultation
24. radio frequency electromagnetic field limits
25. criteria for resolution of radio frequency interference complaints
2. Operating and Procedures
The following topic areas will be covered as part of our sudy of Amateur Radio Operating and Procedures:
1. voice operating procedures – channelized VHF/UHF repeater
2. phonetic alphabet
3. voice operating procedures – simplex VHF/UHF and HF
4. tuneups and testing, use of dummy load, courteous operation
5. Morse (CW) operating procedures, procedural signs
6. RST system of signal reporting, use of S meter
7. Q signals
8. emergency operating procedures
9. record keeping, confirmation practices, maps/charts, antenna orientation
3. Station Assembly, Practice and Safety
The following topic areas will be covered as part of our sudy of Amateur Radio Station Assembly, Practice and Safety:
1. functional layout of HF stations
2. functional layout of FM transmitters
3. functional layout of FM receivers
4. functional layout of CW transmitters
5. functional layout of SSB/CW receivers
6. functional layout of SSB transmitters
7. functional layout of digital systems
8. functional layout of regulated power supplies
9. functional layout of Yagi-Uda antennas
10. receiver fundamentals
11. transmitter, carrier, keying, and amplitude modulation fundamentals
12. carrier suppression, SSB fundamentals
13. frequency and phase modulation fundamentals
14. station accessories for telegraphy, radiotelephony, digital modes
15. digital mode fundamentals RTTY, ASCII, AMTOR, packet
16. cells and batteries, types, ratings, charging
17. power supply fundamentals
18. electrical hazards, electrical safety, security
19. electrical safety ground, capacitor discharge, fuse replacement
20. antenna and tower safety, lightning protection
21. exposure of human body to RF, safety precautions
4. Circuit Components
The following topic areas will be covered as part of our sudy of Amateur Radio Circuit Components:
1. amplifier fundamentals
2. diode fundamentals
3. bipolar transistor fundamentals
4. field-effect transistor fundamentals
5. triode vacuum tube fundamentals
6. resistor colour codes, tolerances, temperature coefficient
5. Basic Electronics and Theory
The following topic areas will be covered as part of our sudy of Amateur Radio Basic Electronics and Theory:
1. metric prefixes – pico, micro, milli, centi, kilo, mega, giga
2. concepts of current, voltage, conductor, insulator, resistance
3. concepts of energy and power, open and short circuits
4. Ohm’s law – single resistors
5. series and parallel resistors
6. power law, resistor power dissipation
7. AC, sinewave, frequency, frequency units
8. ratios, logarithms, decibels
9. introduction to inductance, capacitance
10. introduction to reactance, impedance
11. introduction to magnetics, transformers
12. introduction to resonance, tuned circuits
13. introduction to meters and measurements
6. Feedlines and Antenna Systems
The following topic areas will be covered as part of our sudy of Amateur Radio Feedlines and Antenna Systems:
1. feed line characteristics, characteristic impedance
2. balanced and unbalanced feed lines, baluns
3. popular antenna feed line and coaxial connector types
4. line losses by line type, length and frequency
5. standing waves, standing wave ratio, SWR meter
6. concept of impedance matching
7. isotropic source, polarization via element orientation
8. wavelength vs physical length
9. gain, directivity, radiation pattern, antenna bandwidth
10. vertical antennas – types, dimensions, characteristics
11. Yagi antennas – types, dimensions, characteristics
12. wire antennas – types, dimensions, characteristics
13. quad/loop antennas – types, dimensions, characteristics
7. Radio Wave Propagation
The following topic areas will be covered as part of our sudy of Amateur Radio Radio Wave Propagation:
1. line of sight, ground wave, ionospheric wave (sky wave)
2. ionosphere, ionospheric regions (layers)
3. propagation hops, skip zone, skip distance
4. ionospheric absorption, causes and variation, fading, phase shift, Faraday rotation
5. solar activity, sunspots, sunspot cycle
6. MF and HF, critical and maximum useable frequencies, solar flux
7. VHF and UHF, sporadic E, aurora, ducting
8. scatter – HF, VHF, UHF
8. Interference and Suppression
The following topic areas will be covered as part of our sudy of Amateur Radio Interference and Suppression:
1. front-end overload, cross-modulation
2. audio rectification, bypass capacitors, ferrites
3. intermodulation, spurious, key-clicks
4. harmonics, splatter, transmitter adjustments
5. use of filters: low-pass, high-pass, band-pass, band-reject
Test And Exams
Throughout the course you will be presented multiple opportunities to test your progress through a series of practice tests and exams. The tests and exams will vary in length but they will all draw questions from the official ISED Basic Qualification Question Bank as of June 2022.
