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Canada · Amateur radio exam

Canadian ham radio licence classes: the four qualifications

Canada has one Amateur Radio Operator Certificate, and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) adds qualifications to it: Basic, Basic with Honours, Morse code and Advanced. These are the Canadian ham radio licence classes, though ISED doesn’t call them that. Basic is the entry level, and every certificate starts with it. The others add bands, power, and the right to build and run more of your own station.

  • 5Words per minute in the Morse code test
  • 18Minimum age to become an accredited examiner
  • 3 decibelsAmplifier capability above your power limit
Where to study

Updated November 2026 · Written from official sources, listed at the bottom of this page

The four qualifications compared

RIC-1, ISED’s guide for examiners, says a candidate may attempt one or all qualifications at any time, but no certificate is issued until the candidate has passed the Basic. How each is earned and what it adds:

QualificationHow you earn itWhat it adds
BasicA 100-question exam, 70% to passEvery amateur band above 30 megahertz (MHz)
Basic with Honours80% or more on the Basic examThe bands below 30 MHz too
Morse codeA sending and a receiving testWith Basic, every amateur band
AdvancedA 50-question exam, 70% to passBands below 30 MHz, more power, building and repeaters
The bands, frequency by frequency →

What do the Canadian ham radio licence classes let you do?

ISED’s information circular on the amateur service, RIC-3, sums up the privileges. With Basic you can:

  • Assemble commercial transmitter kits of professional design, but not build a transmitter of your own
  • Reprogram a radio by computer to work on the amateur bands, with no changes to its circuits
  • Run a cross-band repeater, and use a repeater set up by an Advanced amateur

Basic doesn’t allow remote control of a fixed station. Advanced adds building and modifying transmitters, setting up repeaters and club stations, and remote control of fixed stations, including over radio links. Only an Advanced holder can sponsor a club station.

Power limits

RBR-4, ISED’s operating standard for amateur stations, gives each limit three ways, and the one that applies depends on how your transmitter’s power is measured:

Measured asBasicAdvanced
Direct-current input250 W1,000 W
Single sideband, peak envelope560 W2,250 W
Other signals, carrier power190 W750 W

Honours and Morse code add bands, not power. The Basic limits apply until you pass Advanced.

Your amplifier may be capable of up to 3 decibels (twice the power) above your limit, but you must never transmit above it.

The Morse code test

You send a plain-language text by hand and copy one by ear, each for at least three minutes in a row. The text uses only letters, figures and five punctuation marks: period, comma, question mark, dash and fraction bar. Every character missed or wrong is one error. On the receiving test, five errors or fewer earns 100%, which is the pass mark, and you get two minutes at the end to check your copy.

You don’t need this qualification to use Morse code on the air. ISED says it’s one of three ways into the bands below 30 MHz, not a permit for the mode.

The Advanced exam

It has 50 questions, one from each of 50 topic areas in RIC-3: advanced theory, components and circuits, measurements, power supplies, transmitters and modulation, receivers, and feedlines and antennas.

With Basic, Morse code and Advanced, you can apply to ISED to become an accredited examiner yourself. Advanced and Basic together are also what you need for a permit to operate in Europe under the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations’ arrangement, which Radio Amateurs of Canada issues.

Study guides and courses →

Rules for every qualification

Under the Radiocommunication Regulations, every amateur must:

  • Talk only with other amateur stations
  • Use no secret code or cipher
  • Send no music, commercially recorded material, broadcast programming or messages for business or professional work
  • Take no payment for anything sent or received

Someone without a certificate can operate your station while you’re present and supervising. RBR-4 also has you identify with your call sign at the start and end of each exchange and at least every 30 minutes, in English or French.

Look up a call sign →

Older certificates

A Basic certificate issued before April 1, 2002 carries Honours privileges. One issued later gets them if you can show a Basic mark of 80% or more. The Regulations also treat the old Morse code qualification at 12 words per minute as equal to Basic with Honours.

Sources: Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada · Justice Laws Website and 4 more. Checked November 2026.

Rules and fees can change, so check the official site before your test.

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