Technician class
Commission's Rules
6 of 35 exam questionsPurpose, license grant and basic terms
Who makes the rules, how your license is proven, and the exact meaning of space station, beacon, coordinator and RACES.
Bands, modes and power limits
Where Technicians may use voice, CW and digital modes, how to find a band from a frequency, and the power limits.
Licenses, call signs and renewal
Which classes exist, how call sign groups work, when you may transmit, and how long a license lasts.
Prohibited transmissions and payment
What you may not transmit, the narrow exceptions, and why testing needs an ID but model-craft control doesn't.
Control operators and control points
Who must control a station, whose license sets the privileges, and the difference between local, remote and automatic control.
ID, repeaters and third-party rules
When to give your call sign, who's responsible for a repeater's output, and the rules for talking on behalf of others.
Operating Procedures
3 of 35 exam questionsOffsets, calling and band plans
Know the common repeater offsets, the simplex calling frequency, and how to call and answer other stations.
Repeater operation, tones and Q signals
Use reverse, CTCSS, DTMF and DMR settings, solve common access problems, and read the common Q signals.
Emergencies, nets and message handling
Know which rules apply in emergencies, how ARES and RACES differ, how nets run, and how formal messages are structured.
Radio Wave Propagation
3 of 35 exam questionsFading, polarization and absorption
Explain why signals fade, why antennas must match polarization, and what absorbs or reflects them.
Radio waves: fields, speed and wavelength
A radio wave is a pair of fields moving at light speed, and its wavelength is just 300 ÷ frequency.
Propagation beyond the horizon
Explain how signals get past the horizon: refraction, the ionosphere, ducting, sporadic E, meteors and aurora.
Amateur Radio Practices
2 of 35 exam questionsElectrical Principles
4 of 35 exam questionsCurrent, voltage and AC/DC
Name the unit for each electrical quantity, tell conductors from insulators, and explain what makes AC different from DC.
Metric prefixes and decibels
Convert between milli, kilo, mega and other prefixes by moving the decimal, and tell dB from the power ratio.
Capacitance, inductance and power
Say what capacitors and inductors store, write kHz and MHz correctly, define impedance, and calculate DC power.
Ohm's law and circuits
Find any of voltage, current or resistance from the other two, and know what series and parallel circuits share.
Electronic and Electrical Components
4 of 35 exam questionsResistors, capacitors, switches, batteries
Say what resistors, capacitors and inductors do, read switch types like SPDT, and know which batteries recharge.
Diodes, transistors and gain
Explain how diodes pass current one way, how transistors switch and amplify, and what gain means.
Reading schematic symbols
Recognize every symbol in the exam figures and explain what a schematic does and does not show.
Component functions and resonance
Say what rectifiers, relays, regulators, transformers, meters and ICs do, and what makes a circuit resonant.
Practical Circuits
4 of 35 exam questionsRadios, mixers and modulation
Explain what a transceiver, mixer, oscillator, VFO and transverter do, and the difference between sensitivity and selectivity.
Interference and distortion
Explain what causes overload, interference, distorted audio and low power, and the first fix to try for each.
SWR, feed lines and dummy loads
Explain what SWR and a dummy load are for, how to measure them, and what makes feed lines lose power or fail.
Multimeters and soldering
Choose and connect a voltmeter, ammeter or ohmmeter correctly, and tell good solder and joints from bad.
Signals and Emissions
4 of 35 exam questionsFM, SSB and signal bandwidth
How AM, FM and SSB differ, how wide each signal is, and which to choose for repeaters, weak signals and sidebands.
Amateur satellites
Why a satellite's frequency shifts as it passes, how tracking works, and how to use uplinks, downlinks and beacons.
Direction finding, contests and linking
How to hunt a transmitter, run a contest exchange, read a grid locator, and link repeaters over the internet.
Digital modes, packet and APRS
What CW, PSK, packet, APRS, FT8 and DMR are, and how checksums and ARQ keep data correct.
Antennas and Feed Lines
2 of 35 exam questionsSafety
3 of 35 exam questionsPower, fuse, battery and lightning safety
Spot the shock, fire and battery hazards in a station, and know where fuses, arresters and grounds belong.
Tower and antenna safety
How to climb, raise and ground a tower safely, and how far to keep from power lines.
RF exposure and safety
Why radio waves heat rather than ionize, what sets your exposure, and who has to make sure your station complies.