Amateur Station Operator's Certificate

Mumbai

Chennai

Delhi

Kolkata

Bangalore

Hyderabad

Ahmedabad

Nagpur

Ajmer

Darjeeling

Gorakhpur

Jalandhar

Panaji

Shillong

Mangalore

Ranchi

Srinagar

Thiruvananthapuram

Examination centres

Amateur Station Operator's Certificate or ASOC is the examination that needs to be passed to receive an amateur radio licence in India. The exam is conducted by the Wireless and Planning and Coordination Wing (WPC) of the Ministry of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.^[1] The examination is held in various cities in India on monthly or quarterly basis depending on the size of the city. The licence may be awarded to an individual or a club station operated by a group of licensed amateur radio operators.

The first amateur radio operator was licensed in 1921 during the British rule. Partly due to low awareness among the general population and prohibitive equipment costs, the number of licensed amateur radio operators remained low for several decades. In 1970, there were less than a thousand operators; by 1980, the number had risen to 1,500. In 2000, there were 10,000 operators and as of 2007, there are more than 17,000 licensed users in India.^[2]

History

QSL card of a fictitious^* amateur radio operator. VU is the call-sign prefix for Indian Amateur Radio Operators. The middle number signifying the Examination Category passed.

Licence categories

Examination and syllabus

Antennas at the location of ham operator VU2GMN in Chennai. Knowledge of propagation and antennas is needed to get the licence.

The exam consists of two parts:^[3]

1. Part I – Written Test
   1. Section I: Radio Theory and Practice
   2. Section 2 : Regulations
2. Part II – Morse
   1. Section 1 : Morse Receiving and Sending : (Speed: 5 words per minute)
   2. Section 2 : Morse Receiving and Sending : (Speed: 12 words per minute)

The maximum number of marks that a candidate can secure is 100. To pass the examination, a candidate must score a minimum of 40 (50 for Grade I) in each written section, and 50 (55 for Grade I) in aggregate for a pass.^[4]

Radio theory and practice

The Radio theory and practice syllabus includes eight subtopics:^[3]

The first subtopic is the elementary theory of electricity that covers topics on conductors, resistors, Ohm's Law, power, energy, electromagnets, inductance, capacitance, types of capacitors and inductors, series and parallel connections for radio circuits. The second topic is the elementary theory of alternating currents. Portions include sinusoidal alternating quantities such as peak values, instantaneous values, RMS average values, phase; electrical resonance, and quality factor for radio circuits. The syllabus then moves on to semiconductors, specifically the construction and operation of valves, also known as vacuum tubes. Included in this portion of the syllabus are thermionic emissions with their characteristic curves, diodes, triodes and multi-electrode valves; and the use of valves as rectifiers, oscillators, amplifiers, detectors and frequency changers, stabilisation and smoothing.

Radio receivers is the fourth topic that covers the principles and operation of TRF receivers and Superheterodyne receivers, CW reception; with receiver characteristics such as sensitivity, selectivity and fidelity; Adjacent-channel interference and image interference; AGC and squelch; and signal to noise ratio (S/R). Similarly, the next topic on transmitters covers the principles and operation of low power transmitters; oscillators such as the Colpitts oscillator, Hartley oscillator, crystal oscillators, and stability of oscillators.

The last three topics deal with radio propagation, aerials, and frequency measurement. Covered are topic such as wavelength, frequency, nature and propagation of radio waves; ground and sky waves; skip distance; and fading. Common types of transmitting and receiving aerials such as Yagi antennas, and radiation patterns, measurement of frequency and use of simple frequency meters conclude the topic.

Regulations

Knowledge of the Indian Wireless Telegraph Rules and the Indian Wireless Telegraphs (Amateur Service) Rules are essential and always tested.^[3] The syllabus also includes international radio regulations related to the operation of amateur stations with emphasis on provisions of radio regulation nomenclature of the frequency and wavelength, frequency allocation to amateur radio service, measures to prevent harmful interference, standard frequency and time signals services across the world, identification of stations, distress and urgency transmissions, amateur stations, phonetic alphabets, and figure code are the other topics included in the portion.

Also included in the syllabus are Q codes such as QRA, QRG, QRH, QRI, QRK, QRL, QRM, QRN, QRQ, QRS, QRT, QRU, QRV, QRW, QRX, QRZ, QSA, QSB, QSL, QSO, QSU, QSV, QSW, QSX, QSY, QSZ, QTC, QTH, QTR, and QUM; and CW abbreviations and prosigns such as AA, AB, AR, AS, C, CFM, CL, CQ, DE, K, NIL, OK, R, TU, VA, WA, and WB.

Morse

Chart of the Morse code letters and numerals

The syllabus includes the following Morse code characters: all alphabets, numbers, prosigns, and punctuations such as the full-stop; comma; semi-colon; break sign; hyphen and question mark.^[3]

Receiving

For Grade II, the test piece consists of a passage of 125 letters, five letters counting as one word. Candidates are required to copy for five minutes at the speed of five words per minute, international Morse signals from an audio oscillator keyed either manually or automatically. A short practice piece is sent at the prescribed speed before the start of the test. More than five errors disqualifies a candidate. For Grade I, the test piece consists of a passage of 300 characters: letters, figures, and punctuations. The average words contain five characters and each figure and punctuation is counted as two characters. Candidates have to receive for five consecutive minutes at a speed of 12 words per minute.

Sending

For Grade II, the test piece consists of 125 letters, with five letters forming one word. Candidates are required to transmit by using a Morse key for five consecutive minutes at the minimum speed of five words per minute. A short practice piece is allowed before the test. Candidates are not allowed more than one attempt in the test. More than five uncorrected errors disqualifies a candidate. For Grade I, the speed sent is 12 words per minute.

Fees

See also

• Amateur radio in India
• Amateur radio callsigns of India

Further reading

• Verma, Rajesh (1988). "ABC of Amateur Radio and Citizen Band". EFY Publications. 
• Ali, Saad (1985). "Guide To Amateur Radio In India". E.M.J. Monteiro. 

References

• Note:^* Indian call signs do not use numbers as an identifier. This picture is for demonstration purposes only.

This article incorporates text from the "The Indian Wireless Telegraphs (Amateur Service) Rules, 1978" in compliance with the Indian Copyright Act, 1957 Section 52 (1)(q) Amendment in Amateur Radio rule 2010 by WPC (actually based on 2009)

External links

• Online ASOC application PDF file generator-siars.org.in
• Hamradioindia.org - An Introduction to Amateur Radio