advance

ISED Gives Advance Notice of Update of Basic Amateur Radio Exam Questions

Posted on by VA3DBJ

For immediate release – July 6, 2024

On July 5, 2024, Innovation Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) posted the following announcement on its website:

“Working with the Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC), Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) plans to update the Basic Amateur Exam questions and answers in early 2025. An advance copy, in PDF format, will be posted in the coming months on our Downloads page so that instructors and examiners can update their material before the transition. After this update, ISED will perform a similar review of the Advanced Amateur Exam, with new exams expected after 2025.”

As indicated in the announcement, this is the result of a RAC initiative – which was presented to ISED in 2022 – and over a year of hard work by the members of RAC’s Examination Standards Committee (ESC). The final details of the update to the Basic Amateur Exam are being worked out now. ISED must put the completed draft of the Basic Question Bank through some internal processes before it can be published.

ISED will publish the new Basic Question Bank on its website several months before it is implemented to allow instructors, authors and candidates the opportunity to adjust to the changes. The existing Basic Question Bank will be used until the new bank is implemented sometime in 2025.

RAC’s Examination Standards Committee is now working on recommendations for updates to the Advanced Question Bank.

You can see ISED’s announcement at these links:

Amateur radio exam generator (canada.ca)
Accredited examiners (canada.ca)

—
Dave Goodwin VE3KG
Regulatory Affairs Officer
Radio Amateurs of Canada
[email protected]

RAC Advanced Course for Maple Leaf Operators: Winter/Spring 2021

Posted on by VA3DBJ

The course is filling up quickly.

RAC’s next online Advanced Certificate course for Winter/Spring 2021 is filling up quickly. Since May 2020, 400 Radio Amateurs across Canada have used this course to prepare for the Advanced exam.

This instructor-led, 10-session course will begin in early February and end in early May.  You can choose to attend either the Sunday afternoon sessions or the Monday evening sessions.

Registration is scheduled to close on February 5 or when it fills up!

Background information:

In response to the global pandemic, Radio Amateurs of Canada is once again offering an online Advanced Qualification Amateur Radio Course so that individuals can upgrade their qualifications while continuing to practise social/physical distancing.

With your Advanced Certificate, you can run higher power, operate a remotely-controlled station, obtain operating privileges when travelling overseas, set up repeaters, be the trustee for club stations and even become an Accredited Examiner (AE). 

Note: You need to be a RAC Maple Leaf Operator Member (present or future) to register for this course. See below for information.

Course information:

The course will be 10 sessions in length and each session will be two hours long.

In order to offer maximum flexibility, we will be running two Advanced courses so students will be able to choose one of the following two options:

  • Sunday afternoons from 3 pm to 5 pm EDT (12 pm PDT) starting on Sunday, February 7 and ending on Sunday, May 2

Or

  • Monday evenings from 8:30 pm to 10:30 pm EDT (5:30 PDF) starting on Monday, February 8 and ending on Monday, May 3

Note: There will be no sessions on February 14 -15, March 28-29 and April 4-5.

For more information, please click here.