Foundation Amateur Radio Exam study plan
Foundation Amateur Radio Exam · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 6 hours per week
Licensing and operating rules & Technical basics
Map the four exam domains and their weightings, then build a one-page checklist of every licensing subtopic you must cover.
Define and correctly use core electrical terms (voltage, current, resistance, power) and state Ohm's law and the power equation from memory.
Identify the three license classes, their privileges, and the basic call sign structure and ITU region for your location.
Solve ten Ohm's law and power problems with a calculator, showing units for every answer.
Your checkpoint
A one-page formula and term sheet plus a scored set of ten worked Ohm's law and power problems (target 9 of 10 correct).
Licensing and operating rules & Technical basics
Explain the privileges and restrictions attached to each license class, including frequency bands and emission modes.
Describe the purpose of the station license, operator license, and call sign in identifying a station.
Compute series and parallel resistance for two- and three-resistor networks.
State the rules for station identification, control operator responsibility, and third-party traffic in plain language.
Your checkpoint
A written summary of license privileges and identification rules under 300 words, plus five correctly solved series and parallel resistance networks.
Technical basics & Licensing and operating rules
Distinguish AC from DC and compute the period and frequency of a sine wave.
Explain capacitance and inductance in terms of stored energy and their effect on current flow.
Match common frequency bands to their approximate wavelengths using the 300 divided by frequency relationship.
Recall the key prohibited-transmission rules and the penalties for unlicensed operation.
Your checkpoint
A completed band-to-wavelength conversion table for at least eight amateur bands, checked against the formula.
Transmitters and receivers & Technical basics
Describe the signal path through a basic transmitter from oscillator to antenna.
Explain the function of the oscillator, mixer, amplifier, and filter stages in a transmitter.
Identify the causes and remedies of common transmitter problems such as spurious emissions and overmodulation.
Compute the output power and efficiency of an amplifier stage given input power and supply power.
Your checkpoint
A hand-drawn block diagram of a transmitter with each stage labeled and one sentence of purpose per block, plus two solved efficiency problems.
Transmitters and receivers
Trace the signal path through a receiver from antenna to audio output.
Compare the superheterodyne receiver with simpler designs and state why the intermediate frequency is used.
Explain selectivity, sensitivity, and dynamic range and how each affects reception quality.
Describe the purpose of squelch, AGC, and noise blanking controls.
Your checkpoint
A side-by-side comparison table of at least three receiver architectures covering cost, selectivity, and image rejection.
Antennas and propagation & Transmitters and receivers
Classify common antenna types (dipole, vertical, Yagi) by polarization and typical radiation pattern.
Compute the approximate length of a half-wave dipole for a given frequency.
Explain feed line loss, standing wave ratio, and impedance matching in practical terms.
State the relationship between transmitter power, antenna gain, and effective radiated power.
Your checkpoint
A worked antenna worksheet with dipole lengths for five bands and a short explanation of what a high SWR indicates.
Antennas and propagation
Describe how the ionosphere forms layers and how those layers affect HF propagation by day and night.
Distinguish ground wave, sky wave, and line-of-sight propagation and the bands each favors.
Explain the effect of the solar cycle and sunspot activity on maximum usable frequency.
Identify common propagation anomalies such as sporadic E and ducting in plain language.
Your checkpoint
A day-versus-night propagation chart for at least four HF bands with a one-sentence justification for each entry.
Licensing and operating rules & Technical basics & Transmitters and receivers & Antennas and propagation
Review every missed question from prior weeks and restate the correct rule or formula in your own words.
Complete two full-length timed practice exams under exam conditions.
Drill weak subtopics identified by practice-exam scores until each reaches at least 80 percent accuracy.
Rehearse the exam logistics: question format, passing score, and time allowed.
Your checkpoint
Two completed timed practice exams with a scored error log and a final one-page review sheet covering every domain.
Milestones
Week 2: Score at least 80 percent on a 25-question quiz drawn only from Domain 1 (licensing and operating rules).
Week 4: Explain the full transmitter signal path aloud without notes and solve three Ohm's law and power problems correctly in under five minutes.
Week 6: Score at least 75 percent on a 30-question mixed quiz covering Domains 2, 3, and 4.
Week 8: Score at least 85 percent on two consecutive full-length timed practice exams, with no domain below 70 percent.