On-line Radio Amateurs' Examination Course

The material for this page has been created with the kind assistance and permission of Peter Pennington, G4EGQ, who created an online self study course in the UK.

Peter wrote this excellent study guide - not for profit. He asks for people using it, to consider donating a small sum to a worthwhile charity. Peter's students in the UK have generously donated to the UK Cancer Research Charity.

The IMDA Amateur Handbook is essential reading. Parts C, D and E are essentially the Exam Syllabus and Test Requirements. They spell out what will be tested! Read the Syllabus carefully, and study the material below.

The following links provide students with downloadable study materials (pdf).

• Lesson 0: Frequency and Wavelength
• Lesson 1: Basic Electricity, Ohms Law, Resistors in Parallel/Series
• Lesson 1a: More on Resistors
• Lesson 2: Resistive Dummy Load, Magnetism, Relay
• Lesson 3: Generation, Induction, Transformers, Impedance matching, Moving Coil Meters
• Lesson 4: Capacitors, AC Theory
• Lesson 4a: AC Circuits, LRC, Resonance, Q-factor
• Lesson 5: Power Supplies, Voltage Stabilization
• Lesson 6: Semiconductors, pn junction, transistors, thermal runaway, amplifiers
• Lesson 6a: Field Effect Transistors
• Lesson 7: Amplifiers, Oscillators, Push-Pull
• Lesson 7a: Receivers, TRF, Mixers, Superhet
• Lesson 8: Oscillators, VFO, Frequency Multipliers,Transmitters
• Lesson 8a: Propagation
• Lesson 8b: Types of Propagation, Fading, Multipath, Tropo,Moon Bounce
• Lesson 8c: EM Waves, Dipole, Antenna Types, Feeders
• Lesson 9: Transmitters, Power amplifiers, Low Pass filter, Mixers, Multipliers, AM
• Lesson 9: Part 1: Frequency Synthesis
• Lesson 10: Limitations of AM, Single Sideband, Frequency Modulation
• Lesson 10a: Electromagnetic Compatibility, Interference Issues, Earthing, Safety
• Lesson 10x: Morse Code Transmission
• Lesson 11: More on Interference and cures, Low Pass Filter
• Lesson 12: Measurements, DC and Audio, RF, Wavemeter, Thermocouple Wattmeter, Dummy Load, Frequency Meter
• Lesson 12a: Thermionic Emission, Valves, Tubes
• Lesson 13 Part 1: Power Measurement, Decibel, Link Budgets
• Lesson 13 Part 2: Practical Power Measurement, AM, SSB Two Tone Test
• Lesson 13A: Band Plans
• Lesson 14: Getting Ready for the RAE

Before you get on the air- Some operational tips!