Regulations

VY1DM, David - Instructor

Preamble

One of the purposes of radio regulations is to provide order in a crowded radio spectrum. If everyone who wanted to transmit a signal on any frequency at any time at any power, the airwaves would be so cluttered that no one would be able to get their signals to where they wanted them. (See the reference to "noise" in the previous section on "What is Radio?")

Governments have gotten together since early in the nineteen hundreds to agree on what rules should be put in place to provide order in the use of the radio spectrum. They formalized their discussions by becoming signatories to international agreements. The national governments establish laws through legislation and regulations. They keep their consituents (e.g. radio operators) informed of the current status of the international agreements, laws and regulations through information circulars. These circulars have been used to prepare some of the exam questions in this section.

The Materials

You need to review 4 short documents and a lot of questions in the question bank.

RIC-3 - Information on the Amateur Radio Service This circular describes in general terms, procedures, policies and general information concerning the amateur radio service. Also included are syllabuses for Amateur Radio Operator Certificate qualification examinations. There are 18 pages here, some containing excerpts from relevant regulations.

RIB-4 - Standards for the Operation of Radio Stations in the Amateur Radio Service There are 11 pages in this document. It sets out the standards for the operation of radio stations in the amateur radio service.

RIC-9 - Call Sign Policy and Special Event Prefixes There are 11 pages in this circular. It outlines the policies and procedures as they relate to call signs and special events prefixes within the amateur radio service.

RIC-7 - Basic Qualification Question Bank The questions for this section start at B-001-01-01 and end at B-001-25-04. This section has 25 subsections and about 250 questions. You might find it easier to use the YARA spreadsheet or VE8AAY's ExHAMiner software than the actual question bank.

Study Hints

Although this topic may seem boring, you need to understand this material, especially when you are operating your radio. Besides, 25% of the exam questions may come from this section.

Previewing could take you about 1 hour. Going through the questions in the question bank and finding the references in the Industry Canada documents for this section could take about 2 hours.You will also probably review this again later. This won't take as long as the first time.

The process to get high marks in this section is largely memorization and drill - it is not techinally difficult:

Use a notebook to help keep track of the things you need to follow-up on later.

1. Read the short documents

2. Go through all the questions for this section and mark the ones you do not get the correct, or use the spreadsheet or VEAAY's "ExHAMiner" software.

3. When you have gone through the questions once, go back to the Industry Canada documents to find where the information is. You will probably get the answer right the next time you go through the questions.

4. If some of the questions seem to be of a technical nature, just make a notation in your notes, you will learn more about this later in your preview or in the course itself.

5. If you have unanswered questions make notes and bring this up during the course workshop.

Next: Operating and Procedures