Syllabus of the Hong Kong Radio Amateurs' Examination (RAE)

1.1 Nature of Amateur Service and Amateur Satellite Service.

1.2 Types of Amateur Station Licence available in Hong Kong.

1.3 Purposes of Amateur Station Licences and Authority to Operate, and qualifications of holders.

1.4 Conditions (terms, provisions and limitations) laid down in the Amateur Station Licences including notes appended to them and the Schedules of frequencies, bands, power and types of transmissions.

1.5 ITU Radio Regulations relating to Amateur Services.

2. Interference

2.1 Radio frequency interference; spurious emissions, harmonics and intermodulation, causes and methods of suppression; direct radiation from frequency determining and frequency changing stages (including synthesizers) of a transmitter, parasitic oscillations, key clicks, excessive sidebands due to overmodulation, excessive frequency deviation of fm transmitters.

2.2 Frequency stability; effects of poor frequency stability; out-of-band radiation, causes and methods of elimination.

2.3 Restriction of audio bandwidth, typical methods and their limitations.

2.4 Mains borne interference, causes and methods of suppression.

2.5 Types of filters; low frequency and radio frequency filters.

2.6 The requirements of frequency checking equipment.

3. Operating Procedures and Practices

3.1 Calling procedures in telegraphy and telephony: general calls to all stations and calls to specific stations.

3.2 Log-keeping: Maintenance of a log in accordance with the licence requirements.

3.3 Use of satellites and repeaters; Purposes, limitations, and methods of accessing.

3.4 Use of Q codes and other abbreviations appropriate to the Amateur Service

3.5 The reasons for band planning: advantages of band planning.

3.6 The use of phonetic alphabet: reasons for its use.

3.7 Safety precautions in amateur station; safety in operation and maintenance.

4. Radio and Electricity

4.1 Basic theory

4.1.1 Basic electrical terms, units and their meanings: charge, potential difference, e.m.f., current, resistance, conductance, susceptance, impedance, reactance, energy and power.

4.1.2 Important characteristics of conductors, semi-conductors and insulators; conductivity and resistivity; temperature coefficient of resistance.

4.1.3. Resistors: symbols, types, colour coding, tolerance, wattage ratings; resistors in series and parallel; Ohm's Law and applications.

4.1.4. Principles and action of fuses, circuit breakers and safety devices; safety precautions.

4.2 Electromagnetism

4.2.1 The magnetic effects of an electric current.

4.2.2 Description of magnetization curve and hysteresis loop.

4.3 Inductance

4.3.1 Electromagnetic induction; Description of effects of self and mutual inductance. Unit of inductance.

4.3.2 Inductors in series and parallel without mutual inductance.

4.3.3 Effects of inductance in ac circuits; meaning of inductive reactance.

4.3.4 Eddy currents, descriptive treatment of hf resistance, eddy-current screening.

4.3.5 Inductors: symbols, essential characteristics of inductors for transmitters, receivers, power, audio and radio frequencies; uses of laminations, dust-cores, air cores and ferrites.

4.4 Capacitance

4.4.1 The basic capacitor, definition of unit of capacitance.

4.4.2 Capacitors in series and parallel.

4.4.3 Effects of capacitance in ac circuits; meaning of capacitance reactance.

4.4.4 Dielectric strength, breakdown voltage, absorption and losses; electrostatic shielding.

4.4.5 Capacitors: symbols; characteristics and uses of paper, ceramic, silvered mica, polystyrene, variable and preset, non-inductive, electrolytic and tantalum capacitors.

4.5 Alternating current

4.5.1 Sinewave: definition of terms; amplitude, period and frequency, instantaneous, peak, peak-to-peak, rms and average values.

4.5.2 Power, reactance, impedance and resonance in ac circuits; simple explanation of terms; resonance, phase angle, phase difference, phase lead and lag, Q (magnification) factor, bandwidth and 3 dB points.

4.5.3 Calculations on resonant frequency in parallel and series circuits.

4.5.4 Decibel, application in power measurement.

4.6 Transformer

4.6.1 Function and operation.

4.6.2 Transformer as a matching device.

5. Solid State Devices

5.1 Semi-conductor diodes: symbols; elementary principles of semi-conductor diodes including zener diodes; electrical characteristics.

5.2 Transistors: characteristics and principles of operation of npn and pnp transistors; control of output current and voltage when transistors are used as audio-frequency and radio-frequency amplifiers.

5.3 Use of solid state devices, including integrated circuits, in radio equipment as:

a. oscillators (crystal and variable frequency types),

b. amplifiers (audio-frequency and radio-frequency types),

c. frequency-changers,

d. frequency multipliers,

e. demodulators

f. typical power supply circuits; power rectification; single-phase half-wave, full-wave and bridge connections; smoothing and voltage stabilization systems.

6. Logic Circuits

6.1 Counting systems: decimal, binary; codes: binary, binary coded decimals.

6.2 Basic gates: AND, OR, NOT, NAND and NOR functions; symbols; simple Boolean algebra; truth tables.

7. Receivers and Transmitters

7.1 Receivers

7.1.1 Principles of reception of continuous wave, double sideband and single sideband and frequency modulated signals in terms of radio frequency amplification; frequency changing (where appropriate); demodulation or detection; automatic gain control; audio amplification: the superheterodyne principle of reception.

7.1.2 Advantages and disadvantages of high and low intermediate frequencies; adjacent channel and image frequency interference and their avoidance; capture effect.

7.1.3 Sensitivity and selectivity.

7.1.4 Radio frequency amplifiers; tuned circuit, gain, frequency response, linearity.

7.1.5 Audio frequency amplifiers; coupling; emitter follower; phase splitters; negative feedback; decoupling; power amplifiers.

7.1.6 Typical receivers; use of a beat frequency oscillator: characteristics of a single sideband signal and the purpose of a carrier insertion oscillator.

7.2 Transmitters

7.2.1 Oscillators used in transmitters; principles of variable frequency and crystal controlled oscillators; factors affecting frequency stability.

7.2.2 Transmitter stages: operation of frequency changers, frequency multipliers, high and low power amplifiers (including linear types). Transmitter tuning and adjustment.

7.2.3 Methods of keying transmitters for telegraphy; advantages and disadvantages.

7.2.4 Voice operated controls.

7.2.5 Methods of modulation and types of emission in circuit use including single sideband and frequency/phase modulation; emissions in the A3E, J3E, F3E and G3E modes; relative advantages: adjustment of level of modulation.

8. Propagation and Antennae

8.1 Explanation of basic terms: ionosphere, troposphere, atmosphere, field strength, polarization, maximum usable frequency, critical frequency, skip distance.

8.2 Generation of electromagnetic waves; relationship between electric and magnetic components.

8.3 Structure of the ionosphere: refracting and reflecting properties of the ionosphere and troposphere. Effect of sunspot cycle, winter and summer seasons and day and night on the ionization of the upper atmosphere; effect of varying degrees of ionization on the propagation of electromagnetic waves.

8.4 Ground wave, ionospheric and tropospheric propagation.

8.5 Fade out and types of fading: selective, interference, polarization, absorption and skip.

8.6 Velocity of radio waves in free space; relationship between velocity of propagation, frequency and wavelength; calculation of frequency and wavelength.

8.7 Receiving and transmitting aerials; operation and construction of typical aerials including multiband and directional types; their directional properties. Coupling and matching.

8.8 Effects of moisture and dirt on insulators; insulation breakdown.

8.9 Aerial feeders; open and coaxial types.

8.10 Transmission lines; balanced and unbalanced feeders; elementary principle of propagation of radio waves along transmission lines; velocity ratio, standing waves.

9. Measurement

9.1 Types of instruments used in radio work for the measurement of ac, dc, and rf voltages and currents; errors in measurements.

9.2 Measurement of

9.3 Purposes, operation and use of absorption wavemeters, crystal calibrators, heterodyne wavemeters and frequency counters; relative accuracy.

9.4 Dummy loads, their purpose, construction and use in tuning transmitters.

9.5 Use of standing-wave ratio meters.

9.6 Use of oscilloscope to examine and measure waveform and monitor the depth of modulation.

9.7 Use of dip oscillator.

10. Basic Knowledge of Types of Amateur Service

10.1 RTTY

10.2 Packet Radio

10.3 Fascimile

10.4 Slow Scan Television

10.5 Satellite

1. Candidates must bring along the receipt of their application and their I/D cards or passports for identification purpose. Failure to produce such documents may result in not being permitted to sit for the examination. The examination fee will not be refunded under such circumstances.

2. Smoking is not permitted in the examination hall.

3. Candidates are required to bring their own pens. The use of calculator is permitted provided that it is one of those in the list of approved calculators in this Notes.

4. Candidates are required to sit as directed. They are not allowed to bring any textbook or reference materials to their seats.

5. Candidates must not proceed to answer any examination questions before the start of the examination is announced by the invigilators.

6. The use of mobile telephones, radio transceivers or any electronic or infrared communication devices is not allowed during the examination. All these should be switched off prior to the commencement of the examination.

7. Candidates are not allowed to communicate with each other during the examination. If a candidate has any query or needs assistance, he/she should raise his/her hand for the attention of the invigilators.

8. Examination papers, answer sheets and sufficient scrap papers will be provided. Candidates must surrender all these papers to the invigilators on completion of the examination.

9. Candidates have a maximum of 3 hours to complete the examination.

10. Candidates are required to arrive at the examination venue at least 10 minutes before the starting time of the examination. Candidates are not allowed to enter the examination hall and sit for the examination half hour after the examination has started. No examination fee shall be refunded under such circumstances.

11. During the examination, candidates are not allowed to leave the examination hall without the permission of the invigilators. Except under exceptional circumstances, candidates are not permitted to leave the examination hall within the first half hour after the examination has started and the last 15 minutes before the closing of the examination session.