Ylab’s Free Canadian Amateur Radio (Ham) License Training Class
We make it easier!
Free! Now with video!
We built this site to make it easier to get your Canadian Amateur Radio Basic/Basic with Honours license. We focus on getting you through the test. We have some simple slides and videos with a hard focus on exactly what’s required, and simple (and some consider silly) hints to help you remember the answers. Read the full FAQ about our training method here.
Provide us with feedback here.
We occasionally update our slides, hints and explanations based on feedback. Our change and update log is here.
IMPORTANT NOTICE (Jan 2021)
- The question bank and rules for the tests and for ham radio usage in Canada are governed by Innovation Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED Canada), which was formerly known as Industry Canada.
- Our videos and slides reference Industry Canada, but the quiz questions have all been updated with the new name to reflect the changes in the official ISED Canada question bank.
Sections on this page:
- Optional Reference Material
- How to take the class
- When you are ready for a practice test
- When you are ready to take the test and find an examiner
- Supplementary videos and information
- Class slides, videos and quizzes
- ISED Canada links and info
Optional Reference Materials
- We highly recommend the Canadian Amateur Radio Basic Qualifications Study Guide. It’s way more than a study guide – it’s a complete reference to amateur radio in Canada. It goes beyond the information required for the test to give you a comprehensive grounding. If you’re going to be operating a radio, you should have a copy.
- There’s also a 170 page study guide here that we refer to in some of the slides. It has a lot of great info and diagrams. Note: we did not write it. We’ve received several tips on possibilities for reaching the original authors. We’ll follow up when we have time!
- Phonetics, Q-Codes and Resistors cheat sheet. PDF. Excel.
How to take the class
Video or slides? It’s your choice. The video for each section is a presentation of the slides, with some additional commentary. If you get tired of the instructor’s voice, go for the slides.
- We recommend you create an account for yourself on the Quiz Global web site. You can do it without the account, but it’s nice to keep track. They only use email and do not require any privacy information.
- Read the Intro to the Material slide deck or watch the video (number zero. in the table below). It has a lot of info on how the test works
- For each module section below:
- Either watch the video or download the slide deck and read it on your own. The slides and videos do not always contain all the information required for the module. Some information you will learn by taking the test and reading the hints and explanations. The slides and videos may refer to other web sites or to pages in the study guide.
- Take the tests and learn! With the hints and explanations, after going through each test three times, you should start to retain the information and get better at it. Two ways to play:
- Play Auto: You complete all the questions, then see how you did.
- Play Manually: You see the results after each question
- Keep repeating Step 3. We recommend that each time you pass a new module, you take all the preceding tests again to keep it fresh. Continual review helps it to sink in.
How to handle the tougher sections
Unless you are already familiar with electronics, sections 13, 15 and 18 will give you the biggest headache. Our slides and videos cover these sections with less depth that many would prefer. This is deliberate.
Go over the material, and on those sections, practice and try to get 80% or better. Don’t push it too hard.
In reality, when the test comes up, maybe you’ll be down to 50% on the questions from these sections.
For most of the other sections, we recommend that you repeat the quiz until you get 90% or better. For the safety-related section, we recommend 100%.
By focusing on the easier sections, your total mark will be good enough to pass the test. And your head will hurt a lot less.
But if you want to know more, you are welcome to study the reference material.
When you’re ready for a full practice test…
ISED Canada has that covered. So we didn’t bother.
When you are ready to take the test: how to find an examiner
What does it cost? What’s the process? Do the class and you’ll find out!
Here are some links:
-
- Choose three call signs because the one you want might not be available by the time you complete the test. The examiner will need these to fill out the paperwork.
- Find your closest amateur radio club at RAC or at this site. They will be happy to hear from you and will usually recommend an examiner who is close by. Bonus: it will be your first local radio club contact.
- Search for an examiner on the ISED Canada website. Warning: the City search is crap, using only the exact spelling for a match.
- Go to your nearest ISED Canada office .
Introductory and Supplementary Slides and Video
In addition to the slides, videos and quizzes for the test, we have added supplementary information to cover some of the topics in more depth. The information is useful if you have the time and desire to digest it. You can also check it out before getting into in-depth study. We’ve tried to keep it as simple and understandable as possible.
The info is provided as pages or blog posts, and sometimes as video. Slides are available for other instructors who want to use the material.
| No. | Supplementary Topic | Blog or page | PPTX | Video |
| 0 | Bands, bandwidth and frequency ranges | Blog | PPTX | Video |
Class Slides, Videos and Quizzes
PLEASE NOTE: We have not had the time to update the slides and videos yet to reflect the name change from Industry Canada to Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada. But we have updated all the questions in the quizzes to match the ISED Canada question bank.
Quiz Global, the site we use for the quizzes, has made a change to how their site operates. The quiz links in the table below will now take you to a class page, and you will need to click again on the appropriate quiz number.
You can also work the class directly from the quizglobal page, where we now provide the same links to the videos and slides.
ISED Canada Links
Practice test questions here. Our tests use questions from this same question bank. We just organise them differently and add the hints and explanations. You can also generate an official 100 question test – exactly what you should expect when writing your certification exam.
Search for call signs here. You can see what’s available, but you can’t reserve it. You can only lock it down after you’ve passed your certification test. As new licensees, you must select the 3-letter suffix.
The ISED Canada question bank in ASCII text format is on this page.
Picture credits from top of page:
Image by Michael4Wien from Pixabay
Photo by idono from FreeImages
Image by Jan Vašek from Pixabay
Image by Pexels from Pixabay
