Preparing for the amateur-radio exam

The amateur-radio exam (in France, run by the ANFR) checks that you master three areas: regulations, technical knowledge (electricity, radio, propagation, antennas) and operating (traffic, callsigns, codes). Passing it earns you a callsign and the right to transmit on the amateur bands — a big step beyond the passive listening you practise with the SDR.

This academy helps by bridging theory (this library) and practice (the live, receive-only missions). Many exam notions are things you can see on screen.

The exam track

Regulations & operating:

• Amateur-service regulations · The amateur bands · Callsigns, operating and the logbook · Phonetic alphabet, Q-codes and RST reports

Technical:

• Electricity: the exam basics · Electronic components · Resonant circuits and filters · Transmitter and receiver · Wave propagation · Feed lines, SWR and matching · Safety and electromagnetic compatibility

And everything you've already seen on the SDR side applies directly: Radio waves, Decibels (dB and dBm), Noise floor, SNR and sensitivity, Modulation: writing information onto a wave, Antennas.

The exam in practice (France)

• Registration with the ANFR (online), sat at an exam centre; a fee applies (around €30 — check the current amount on the ANFR website, which is authoritative).
• Format: computer-based multiple choice, two domains — regulations and technical — with a pass mark required in each (a brilliant technical score doesn't rescue the regulations part).
• Passing: operator certificate (the European HAREC standard, recognised across CEPT countries) and then your callsign.

Suggested revision plan (4 weeks)

1. Week 1 — fundamentals: Radio waves, Decibels (dB and dBm), Electricity: the exam basics + 10 min/day of Practise mode.
2. Week 2 — technical: Electronic components, Resonant circuits and filters, Transmitter and receiver, Antennas, Feed lines, SWR and matching.
3. Week 3 — regulations and operating: Amateur-service regulations, The amateur bands, Phonetic alphabet, Q-codes and RST reports, Callsigns, operating and the logbook, Safety and electromagnetic compatibility.
4. Week 4 — timed mock exams (🎓 Exam tab) until you clear the pass mark comfortably in both domains.

Spaced repetition does the sorting for you: missed questions come back quickly, mastered ones spread out. Ten minutes a day beats two hours on Sunday.

⚠️ Receiving ≠ transmitting. The exam licenses you to transmit; the academy stays listen-only. See Legal & safety.