Education Services

The Canberra Region Amateur Radio Club runs training courses for the "Foundation" licence, these courses are normally held in the "odd" months of the year, check out the EVENTS page for dates of the next course.

The emphasis is on candidates having the knowledge of skills to demonstrate a practical ability to put together an amateur radio station from commercial equipment and also to operate it without causing interference to other users and have the knowledge to be a competent radio operator.

You will also need to be aware of how amateur radio relates to other users of the radio spectrum, your licence conditions, technical basics of electricity and electronics, transmitters, receivers, feedlines and antennas, propagation, electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), and electromagnetic radiation (EMR).

The foundation licence operator can operate in the bands listed below using the modes of Amplitude Modulation (AM), Single Side Band (SSB) or Hand Keyed Morse Code.

  3.500 MHz -  3.700 MHz
  7.000 MHz -  7.300 MHz
 21.000 MHz - 21.450 MHz

And on the following bands can also operate Frequency Modulation (FM) in addition to the modes listed above.

  28.000 MHz -  29.700 MHz
 144.000 MHz - 148.000 MHz
 430.000 MHz - 450.000 MHz

The foundation licence operator can only use commercially manufactured equipment.

The WIA has produced a book called the Foundation Licence Manual. It is a full color manual consisting of 95 pages of relevant information for those studying, or those who would just like a reference book for Foundation Licence Operators. The manual contains all the relevant information you will need to know to successfully complete a training course to obtain a foundation licence. It also contains a wealth of information a Foundation Licence operator will need. Items like Band Plans, Electrical Safety information, operating procedures such as the Q code, how to contact you local radio club, the WIA and much more.

Budding candidates can obtain the Foundation Licence Manual from several sources, The Canberra Region Amateur Radio Club maintains a stock of these manuals. The retail price for the manual is $19.00 (inc postage), a discount is given when the manual is purchased as part of a course.

The new licence structure introduces a practical assessment that is common to the three grades of licence. This means that once you have been declared competent by an assessor for the practical assessment as part of the qualification in receiving an amateur licence, that competency is transferable should you upgrade your licence.

The Canberra Region Amateur Radio Club runs Foundation Licence training courses about every 2-3 months. The club is the ideal place to learn all about amateur radio. You can meet other hams, attend interesting lectures, and find out lots of information. If you decide to take up amateur radio as a hobby you will soon learn there are many different facets to the hobby.

The standard time for the training course is around 12 hours and is normally over a weekend and is followed by the Written Examination and Practical Assessment.

For further information on Education matters, please contact our Education Officer Alan Hawes VK1WX by email to committee "at" crarc.ampr.org.

Examination Service

The Canberra Region Amateur Radio Club conducts amateur radio examinations at various times of the year. This will normally be following the Foundation Licence course for those people undertaking that course of instruction, examinations for other classes of licence are usually held on a Saturday or Sunday on a bi-monthly basis.

To apply for an examination, you must complete an “Application for Examination / Assessment” form that is available below. The form, together with the appropriate examination fee, is then posted to the CRARCs postal address a minimum of 15 days prior to the scheduled assessment date.

The Canberra Region Amateur Radio Club runs these examinations and assessments on behalf of the Wireless Institute of Australia (WIA) through it's examination service. To cover the clubs expenses in conducting the examinations there is a "venue fee" of $5.00 per candidate for all examinations / assessments. This fee is already included in the table of fees below.

The Examination Application Form is available in either MS WORD format or PDF.

The FEE structure for the various Courses / Examinations and Assessments are as follows:

Foundation Licence Course including Examination and Assessment (includes Foundation Licence Manual, Course, Examination and Assessment) ($90.00 for under 18's)	$122.00
Foundation Licence Course excluding Examination and Assessment (includes Foundation Licence Manual and Course only)	$40.00
Foundation Licence Examination and Assessment only	$72.00
Practical Assessment only (all grades)	$72.00
Standard or Advanced Licence Examination (Theory)	$72.00
Regulations Examination (Standard and Advanced only)	$72.00
Combined Standard or Advanced Licence Examination, Regulations Examination, and Practical Assessment (when undertaken together)	$206.00
Supply of Foundation Licence Manual (when not part of the Course)	$19.00 (Postage Extra)
Individual Examination / Assessment within the ACT (ie, not on a scheduled date, or away from the CRARC premises) will invoke a surcharge of $10.00 on top of the standard fee's	$10.00 Surcharge
In the event that Assessors and Invigilators are requested to travel outside the ACT to conduct Examinations / Assessments, then the costs of the travel will need to be negotiated on a case by case basis.	To be Negotiated
If a person already owns a copy of the Foundation Licence Manual and wishes to attend one of the Foundation Level Course options, a discount of $15.00 will apply to the above fees.	$15.00 Discount

The Canberra Region Amateur Radio Club DOES NOT have Credit Card / EFTPOS facilities, so all monies need to be paid by Cheque, Money Order (made out to CRARC) or Cash. Failure to provide the correct fee will result in the possible cancellation of your place at the course, examination or assessment !

For further information regarding examinations, please contact our Examination Officer / WIA Assessor, Alan Hawes VK1WX by email to committee "at" crarc.ampr.org or by phone to (02) 6258 2568 (AH).