Licensed to Thrill
Exam Levels
Ham radio operators are licensed in Canada by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada. You need to be licensed to operate on the Amateur bands. To become licensed, you must pass the Amateur Radio exam. In the Canadian system there 2 main exam levels: Basic and Advanced.
Basic Qualification
The Basic exam consists of 100 Multiple choice questions (out of approximately 1000) and has 2 qualification levels:
- Pass - 70% The Basic level gives you operating privileges on ham frequencies above 30MHz.
- Honors - 80% Basic with Honors lets you operate on all the amateur frequencies. Morse Code, though no longer a requirement for licensing, can elevate you to Honours status as well, if you can demonstrate the ability to send and receive at 5 Words Per Minute.
Basic Exam Course
We have developed a free, online video preparation course for the Basic Exam to help get you licensed and on the air. Click the button below!
Advanced Qualification
The Advanced qualification is added to your Basic with Honours qualification. This level allows for greater privileges, including building and operating transmitters, running higher power output, owning and operating your own repeater, sponsoring club stations, etc. To obtain Advanced, you need to pass a 50 multiple choice question exam on radio theory. Likewise, ISED also publishes the Advanced level question bank on the following 7 categories:
- A-001-Advanced Theory
- A-002-Advanced Components and Circuits
- A-003-Measurements
- A-004-Power Supplies
- A-005-Transmitters, Modulation and Processing
- A-006-Receivers
- A-007-Feedlines - Matching and Antenna Systems
We have prepared a PDF file of the Advanced Question Bank with only the correct answer listed.
NOTE: An update to the Advanced Exam question bank is slated for 2026/2027. This Document contains the questions & answers from the Pre-2026/2027 Updated Version!