How to Prepare for the Amateur Radio License Exam: Study Order That Works
What the exam is actually testing
In China, the operator technical capability verification is divided into Class A, B and C. Each step up widens the frequency ranges and the power you may use:
- Class A covers the VHF and UHF amateur bands — roughly 30 to 3000 MHz — with a maximum of 25 W. No HF.
- Class B adds the HF (shortwave) bands. Under the measures in force since March 2024, new Class B holders are limited to below 15 W on HF, while those certificated before that date kept the older 100 W allowance. Above 30 MHz the limit remains 25 W.
- Class C is the top class: full band access, up to 1000 W on HF, still 25 W above 30 MHz.
The exam itself is computer-based multiple choice, with results available immediately. Nothing in it asks you to derive a formula. It asks whether you have actually memorised the rules and the conventions. That makes it an exam you can beat with method.
Study order: regulations first, technology second, operating last
Most people open the textbook at chapter one and read forward until they lose momentum. That is backwards — the textbook is organised as a body of knowledge, not as an exam syllabus.
A more efficient order:
Step one: radio regulations and frequency allocations. This is the part you must know exactly. Which bands belong to the amateur service, which are primary and which are secondary, which sub-bands are reserved for satellites and cannot carry voice. These appear constantly, and they are the only part where “understanding it roughly” is not enough.
Step two: technical foundations. Basic electrical concepts, the frequency-wavelength relationship, antennas and feed lines, standing wave ratio, modulation types. This part allows “understand it once and remember it,” with no rote memorisation.
Step three: operating and safety. Contact procedure, Q codes, signal reports, recognising and handling interference, lightning and electrical safety, emergency handling. This is the part closest to real operating, and it goes noticeably faster if you have already spent time with actual equipment.
Step four: the last week belongs to your wrong answers. Question-bank software records them. In the final week, review only the mistakes — it is far more efficient than re-reading the textbook from page one.
Concepts to get straight before the exam
A handful of ideas show up every session in different disguises:
- Primary versus secondary status. This is legal standing, not importance. A secondary service must not cause harmful interference to primary services and cannot demand protection from them. On 430–440 MHz, the amateur service is secondary — a point worth internalising before you operate there.
- Frequency and wavelength. Remember 300 divided by the frequency in MHz gives the wavelength in metres. The 20-metre band sits near 14 MHz; the 2-metre band near 144 MHz.
- The HF/VHF/UHF boundaries. HF is 3–30 MHz, VHF 30–300 MHz, UHF 300–3000 MHz. These three lines are close to guaranteed.
- Call sign structure. The first character identifies the country (B for China), the digit indicates the zone, and the suffix is the unique serial. In the current system the second letter no longer encodes operator class — do not read it with the old four-class logic.
- Satellite sub-bands. 145.8–146 MHz and 435–438 MHz are set aside for amateur satellite communication; voice and other modes should stay off them. Local operating also avoids specific segments such as 144–144.035 MHz and 431.9–432.24 MHz.
Registration, and the equipment catch
Registration follows notices from the local radio management authority and from CRAC, the Amateur Radio Working Committee of the China Radio Association. Many regions now accept online registration, but the station licensing step still requires a visit to the radio management authority at your place of residence in plenty of places. Bring the printed application form, your original ID, and the radio you intend to have registered.
The equipment step is where people get caught:
- The radio must hold a valid type approval code, and the approved frequency range must include the amateur bands. A device whose approval excludes amateur frequencies will not be registered.
- Equipment whose frequency range has been extended into the amateur bands by flashing modified firmware does not qualify as homemade or modified equipment for inspection purposes.
If you plan to license a handheld or mobile radio, check its type approval before you buy — not after the exam.
On walking in cold
Someone asks every year whether you can sit the exam without studying.
Class A does contain a fair share of common-sense questions, and an educated guess can pick up some marks. But the regulations questions are not guessable — the options differ by one or two digits, and instinct is close to a coin flip. There is also a practical point: the band plans, secondary-status rules and avoidance segments you memorise while studying are exactly what keep you out of trouble later on the air. Saving two days of revision and redoing the paperwork afterwards is a bad trade.
A workable fourteen-day schedule
At one hour a day:
- Days 1–3: regulations and frequency allocations, with matching practice questions per section.
- Days 4–8: technical foundations, working the arithmetic as you go.
- Days 9–12: operating procedure and safety, tied to hands-on time with your radio.
- Days 13–14: full mock papers against the clock, to expose weak sections.
- Final week: wrong answers only. No new material.
The schedule is not about intensity. It is about opening wide and closing narrow — spread the surface, then tighten to errors. That is the least effort for the same result.
References
- Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China, Order No. 67, “Administrative Measures for Amateur Radio Stations” (MIIT, 2024)
- China Radio Association Amateur Radio Working Committee (CRAC), examination notices and result announcements (CRAC, accessed 2026)
- ARRL, “Getting Licensed” (ARRL, accessed 2026)
- ARRL, “Useful information pertaining to the Question Pools” (ARRL, accessed 2026)
- Radio Society of Great Britain, “RSGB Examinations — the gateway to amateur radio” (RSGB, accessed 2026)
- International Amateur Radio Union, “Operating Abroad” (IARU, accessed 2026)