Sun Coast Amateur
Radio Club Society - hambasics

aboutthetest

About The Test

The exam consists of 100 questions divided into 8 topics:

25 questions on Regulations and Policies (B-001)
9 questions on Operating procedures (B-002)
21 questions on Station Assembly, Practice and Safety (B-003)
6 questions on Circuit Components (B-004)
13 questions on Basic Electronics and Theory (B-005)
13 questions on Feedlines and Antenna Systems (B-006)
8 questions on Radio Wave Propagation (B-007)
5 questions on Interference and Suppression (B-008)

More Details

More specifically, there will be one question chosen from each of the following sub-categories:¹⁾

B-001 Regulations and Policies

1-1 radio licences, applicability, eligibility of licence holder
1-2 licence fee, term, posting requirements, change of address
1-3 licence suspension or revocation, powers of radio inspectors, offences and punishments
1-4 operator certificates, applicability, eligibility, equivalents, reciprocal recognition
1-5 operation, repair and maintenance of radio apparatus on behalf of other persons
1-6 operation of radio apparatus, terms of licence, applicable standards, exempt apparatus
1-7 content restrictions - non-superfluous, profanity, secret code, music, non-commercial
1-8 installation and operating restrictions - number of stations, repeaters, home-built, club stations
1-9 participation in communications by visitors, use of station by others
1-10 interference, determination, protection from interference
1-11 emergency communications (real or simulated), communication with non-amateur stations
1-12 non-remuneration, privacy of communications
1-13 station identification, call signs, prefixes
1-14 foreign amateur operation in Canada, banned countries, third-party messages
1-15 frequency bands and qualification requirements
1-16 maximum bandwidth by frequency bands
1-17 restrictions on capacity and power output by qualifications
1-18 unmodulated carriers, retransmission
1-19 amplitude modulation, frequency stability, measurements
1-20 International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Radio Regulations, applicability
1-21 operation outside Canada, ITU regions, reciprocal privileges, international licences
1-22 examinations - Department's fees, delegated examinations, fees, disabled accommodation
1-23 antenna structure approval, neighbour and land-use authority consultation
1-24 radio frequency electromagnetic field limits
1-25 criteria for resolution of radio frequency interference complaints

B-002 Operating and Procedures

2-1 voice operating procedures - channelized VHF/UHF repeater
2-2 phonetic alphabet
2-3 voice operating procedures - simplex VHF/UHF and HF
2-4 tuneups and testing, use of dummy load, courteous operation
2-5 Morse (CW) operating procedures, procedural signs
2-6 RST system of signal reporting, use of S meter
2-7 Q signals
2-8 emergency operating procedures
2-9 record keeping, confirmation practices, maps/charts, antenna orientation

B-003 Station Assembly, Practice and Safety

3-1 functional layout of HF stations
3-2 functional layout of FM transmitters
3-3 functional layout of FM receivers
3-4 functional layout of CW transmitters
3-5 functional layout of SSB)/CW receivers
3-6 functional layout of SSB transmitters
3-7 functional layout of digital systems
3-8 functional layout of regulated power supplies
3-9 functional layout of Yagi-Uda antennas
3-10 receiver fundamentals
3-11 transmitter, carrier, keying, and amplitude modulation fundamentals
3-12 carrier suppression, SSB fundamentals
3-13 frequency and phase modulation fundamentals
3-14 station accessories for telegraphy, radiotelephony, digital modes
3-15 digital mode fundamentals RTTY, ASCII, AMTOR, packet
3-16 cells and batteries, types, ratings, charging
3-17 power supply fundamentals
3-18 electrical hazards, electrical safety, security
3-19 electrical safety ground, capacitor discharge, fuse replacement
3-20 antenna and tower safety, lightning protection
3-21 exposure of human body to RF, safety precautions

B-004 Circuit Components

4-1 amplifier fundamentals
4-2 diode fundamentals
4-3 bipolar transistor fundamentals
4-4 field-effect transistor fundamentals
4-5 triode vacuum tube fundamentals
4-6 resistor colour codes, tolerances, temperature coefficient

B-005 Basic Electronics and Theory

5-1 metric prefixes – pico, micro, milli, centi, kilo, mega, giga
5-2 concepts of current, voltage, conductor, insulator, resistance
5-3 concepts of energy and power, open and short circuits
5-4 Ohm’s law - single resistors
5-5 series and parallel resistors
5-6 power law, resistor power dissipation
5-7 AC, sinewave, frequency, frequency units
5-8 ratios, logarithms, decibels
5-9 introduction to inductance, capacitance
5-10 introduction to reactance, impedance
5-11 introduction to magnetics, transformers
5-12 introduction to resonance, tuned circuits
5-13 introduction to meters and measurements

B-006 Feedlines and Antenna Systems

6-1 feed line characteristics, characteristic impedance
6-2 balanced and unbalanced feed lines, baluns
6-3 popular antenna feed line and coaxial connector types
6-4 line losses by line type, length and frequency
6-5 standing waves, standing wave ratio, SWR) meter
6-6 concept of impedance matching
6-7 isotropic source, polarization via element orientation
6-8 wavelength vs physical length
6-9 gain, directivity, radiation pattern, antenna bandwidth
6-10 vertical antennas - types, dimensions, characteristics
6-11 Yagi antennas - types, dimensions, characteristics
6-12 wire antennas - types, dimensions, characteristics
6-13 quad/loop antennas - types, dimensions, characteristics

B-007 Radio Wave Propagation

7-1 line of sight, ground wave, ionospheric wave (sky wave)
7-2 ionosphere, ionospheric regions (layers)
7-3 propagation hops, skip zone, skip distance
7-4 ionospheric absorption, causes and variation, fading, phase shift, Faraday rotation
7-5 solar activity, sunspots, sunspot cycle
7-6 MF and HF, critical and maximum useable frequencies, solar flux
7-7 VHF and UHF, sporadic E, aurora, ducting
7-8 scatter - HF, VHF, UHF

B-008 Interference and Suppression

8-1 front-end overload, cross-modulation
8-2 audio rectification, bypass capacitors, ferrites
8-3 intermodulation, spurious, key-clicks
8-4 harmonics, splatter, transmitter adjustments
8-5 use of filters: low-pass, high-pass, band-pass, band-reject

¹⁾

See http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/smt-gst.nsf/eng/sf01008.html#s5.1 and RIC-3, Sec2, pp.4–7, 9

azimuthal

Azimuthal Map

Azimuthal maps are only useful if they are centred at your location. To create one:

Go to https://osm.org, navigate to your location and zoom in as much as possible.
Copy your coordinates (the last part of the URL).
Go to https://ns6t.net/azimuth/azimuth.html
Paste the coordinates in the Location field and replace the / between the two numbers with a comma:
In the Distance field, enter either 4000, 8000, 12000, 16000, or 20000. This will give you maps with different zoom levels where each concentric ring measures 1000km, 2000km, 3000km, 4000km, or 5000km

See here for more information about why Azimuthal Maps are useful for ham radio.

home

Ham Basics

These pages will help you study for your Basic Qualification Amateur Radio Operator Certificate Exam in Canada.

About the test.
References to print before getting started.
Study Sections.

The goal of this guide is to help you learn as much as possible about Amateur Radio in general as well as help you pass the Basic test with Honours. Many books about amateur radio make a lot of sense if you already understand the material. The hope is that beginners will be able to understand key concepts, not just memorize them.

As such, the test topics have been broken down and reorganized in a different order to help tell a more coherent story. Many details that are not on the test have also been added to help you understand the material.

How To Use This Site

For self-study, we recommend the following sequence:

Download and print the links on the reference page.
After reading a section from this guide, read all the questions (and the right answers) listed at the end of the section.
Move on to the next section.
Once you consistently get above 80%, contact your examiner and rock the test.

For Editors

This site is currently Under Construction. Editors are encouraged to do the following:

If you see the following notice at the top of a section, please do not make any edits to the page as it may be in high state of flux:

Under Construction: CALLSIGN is editing this section, please do not edit it until this notice is taken down.

You can make small edits (fix typos, grammar, etc) to completed sections without asking anyone.
If you want to make a bigger edit, please contact the section's author and/or Patrick, VA7FI first.
To take on a brand new section that hasn't been started:
1. Read the entire guide first to get a sense of the style and the level of depth.
2. Write Under Construction beside the section name, and add the orange notice at the top of the page so no-one else edits it.
3. Throughout the site, please reference any ISED documents and/or any other sources of information or images.
4. If you create new images, animations, or document, please add the source file in the Sync Folder:²⁾
  Sync\SCARCS\HamBasics\.
5. Contact Patrick, VA7FI if you have any questions.

²⁾

To get access to the Sync folder, see this page

reference

To Print For Reference

Print these before you get started. You'll need to refer to these often as you read through this site.

Basic Qualification Question Bank (August 26, 2025)
Band Plans (full list)
- HF band
- 6m band
- 2m band ¹⁾
- 440 band
An Azimuthal Map centred at your location. (how-to)

Required Reading for B-001

Read through these official ISED documents before starting the last section (no need to print):

Optional Information and Links

Practice Tests

Amateur radio exam generator
exHAMiner 2.5
HAMpuzzle 1.2 (block diagram practice)
Podcast of the Basic Question bank: Just the questions and correct answers.
Podcast of the Advanced Question bank: Just questions and correct answers.

Other ISED Canada Sites

¹⁾

Note that the 2m band plan will probably get updated at some point soon.

sections

Study Sections

Introduction to Ham Radio
Properties of Waves
- Wave Modulation Math (optional)
- Digital Concepts (optional)
Math Basics
Operation and Procedures (B-002)
Radio Wave Propagation (B-007)
Station Assembly, Practice and Safety (B-003)
- Station Assembly
- Practice Under Construction: VA7FI
Basic Electronics and Theory (B-005) Under Construction: VA7FI
Circuit Components (B-004)
Feedlines and Antenna Systems (B-006)
Interference and Suppression (B-008)
Regulations and Policies (B-001) Under Construction: VA7FI

Sun Coast Amateur Radio Club Society - hambasics