Revision Date: May 17, 2026 by Joonho Jang

What is Amateur Radio?

Amateur radio (ham radio) is a licensed hobby where you operate radio transmitters and receivers for personal communication, experimentation, and public service — no commercial use allowed. Canada has Basic and Advanced license levels (regulated by ISED), both requiring a written exam. Although there is a morse code licenses, we will ignore that because UTAT doesn’t use morse code.

To pass the Basic/Advanced License exams, it’s great to know the technical content but it is not necessary to pass the exams. Reason being is that all the questions that’ll be on the exam are posted online along with its answers. So you could just memorize all of the answers…

Privilege / restriction Basic Advanced
Bands above 30 MHz ✓ Full access ✓ Full access
Bands below 30 MHz (HF) Honours only
Requires ≥80% exam score ✓ Full access
Max transmitter power (DC input) 250 W 1,000 W
Build / assemble transmitting equipment Kits only
Commercially available kits of professional design; no home-made transmitters ✓ Unrestricted
Full build-from-scratch permitted
Modify radio circuitry (physical) ✗ Not permitted ✓ Permitted
Re-program radio via computer ✓ Permitted
Software-only; no physical circuit changes ✓ Permitted
Operate cross-band repeaters ✓ Permitted ✓ Permitted
Operate through a repeater Assisted
Only with an amateur with the Advanced Qualification ✓ Permitted
Establish repeaters & club stations ✗ Not permitted ✓ Permitted
Remote control of fixed stations ✗ Not permitted
Regardless of medium used; repeater operation is not considered remote control ✓ Permitted
Including via radio links

Why should I care?

  1. Off-grid communication: When cell networks, internet, and phone lines fail, amateur radio operators are often the only people who can still communicate reliable across long distances. So if you go camping, guess who’s gonna be treated like MVP? 🏝️
  2. Public Service: The Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) deploys licensed volunteers during disasters across Canada. You become a real resource to your community and not just a spectator. ⛑️
  3. Worldwide Reach: Ever wanted to troll someone in Japan and say お兄ちゃん! 🍣
  4. **ECE422 Course Complement**: ECE422 is an UofT ECE course that’s about Radio and Microwave Wireless Systems. The course is math heavy and becomes difficult if you don’t have a proper intuition of how radio systems work. So amateur radio is a great way to make the course more fun and also to put the theory into practice 🔥
  5. Conversation Lifesaver: If you ever need to save a dying conversation… talk about radios! 🗣️

How to become an amateur radio operator?

The government of Canada has nicely put a step-by-step guide on how to practice and get your amateur radio license in this link. The following Government of Canada Docs section highlights the important information that you’ll need to know to be a competent amateur radio operator.

To study for the Basic License → Basic License Prep.

To study for the Advanced License → Advanced License Prep.