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

Note 1

See http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/smt-gst.nsf/eng/sf01008.html#s5.1 and RIC-3, Sec 5