Our free Foundation Online Amateur Radio Training Course is made up of 9 modules that you study at a time to suit you. This course has helped over 14,000 people to get started.
Each course walks you through what you need to know, including videos, handouts, quizzes and mock exams to help you prepare. For more on how the course works, see Foundation Course Information.
Want to join our course?
There are three types of course to choose from, to suit all learning styles:
About Our Course (20)
You register with us online, and we send you course details as a PDF. Courses are free. Once the course starts, we’ll email you with the details of how to sign in to our online classroom.
Once you’re in, we deliver the course over nine modules (3 a week usually). Each module is aligned to the chapters of our Foundation Study Guide the book and the Foundation syllabus, which keeps it simple.
There is a video with each module, and each module ends with a multi-choice quiz. There’s a mock half-way through, and a full mock at the end, to see if you’re ready for the exam.
Our free course usually runs every 2-3 weeks. There’s also a fast track for those in a rush.
Our next course start dates are:
Want to get started? Apply here for a place on our free Foundation course
Nothing – the course is free. If you get to the end and fancy making a donation to help cover running costs, that’s always appreciated.
Our free course usually runs every 2-3 weeks. There’s also a fast track for those in a rush.
Our next course start dates are:
For the UK Foundation, there is a formal exam syllabus issued by the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB).
Our course goes through each part of the syllabus in detail. For a course summary, see: Foundation Online Course Structure
Nothing in particular – You’ll need a web browser, an Internet connection, and at least 3 hours of free time to study each week.
At some point, you’ll need to print out a 4-page PDF file – the document that you’re allowed to take into the exam.
Our course teaches you all that you need to know to pass the exam, but if you want access to the study material outside of the online course classroom, you might want to try our Foundation Study Guide. This book is available in paperback and Kindle format, and it includes not only the material covered in our course, but also a glossary and mock test. The guide broadly follows the structure of our online course.
For more, see: Foundation Study Guide
No. There are no ‘live’ classroom sessions and there are no set times that you need to be in front of your computer.
We do ask you to find 2-3 hours per week at a time of your choosing to complete the modules.
There are no ‘live’ classroom sessions and there are no set times that you need to be in front of your computer.
We release between 2 and 3 modules a week via our online classroom. The classroom will email you to let you know that a new lesson is available, and you can complete them whenever’s suitable. We expect you to spend around 3 hours a week studying in our online classroom, at a time to suit you.
The course runs from a standard web browser on any desktop, laptop or tablet computer. You’ll need an Internet connection. No webcam required.
Our amateur radio training course has been created with adult learners in mind, however the course material is child-safe. Note that the online software used to deliver the course does have an un-moderated forum where students can discuss the course. The course organiser, Pete M0PSX is a RSGB-registered assessor and holds a DBS Enhanced Certificate.
Under 16s are welcome to join, but we require a parent or guardian’s consent.
We find that many people learn better if they can study in chunks, not all at once. By splitting the course into 9 sections, we encourage you to tackle the course in small sessions. We also find it helps to have others on the course who also start at the same time, so the modules can be discussed as a group. It’s also easier for us to run.
The good news is that if you have an imminent exam, or a need to get on a course straight away, you can, thanks to our Fast Track course.
Depending on the type of dyslexia, our course can help.
Each module comes with a fully-narrated video that you can watch and listen to, without the need to read through course material, or the book.
Our course includes various multiple-choice tests.
The software that we use supports screen readers – software that reads out the words on a page.
Courses are accessed from a web browser, so you can change the font type and size as needed, using any web browser.
For a video showing how our course works, see:
Not suitable?
Other types of learning are possible, including:
- Want an audiobook version of our training material? Our Foundation Study Guide is available as an Audible.com Audiobook and in an Apple Audiobook format
- RAIBC offers spoken mp3 versions of training material – RAIBC
- Other online courses are available, some of which use Zoom for personal training – Online Training Courses
- Local amateur radio clubs may be able to offer other types of training, including one-to-one – Amateur Radio Clubs
The Exam
The exam is run by the RSGB, and is a 26-question multiple-choice test. Extra help is available from the RSGB for those with dyslexia, and we suggest you contact RSGB to discuss what help is available.
Call the RSGB Exam team on 01234-832700 (8.30am-4.30pm Monday to Friday)
Video – Need Extra Help with Foundation Study or Exam? |
See also: Amateur Radio Exams and Dyslexia
That’s a good question. At the end of each course, we send out a survey asking exactly that question. Between late 2020 and mid-2021, 394 students gave us their feedback after taking their exam – Here are the results:
How close were our questions to the actual questions?
| Answer | People | Percentage |
| Pretty close | 252 | 64.0% |
| Exam questions were easier | 46 | 11.7% |
| Exam questions were harder | 76 | 19.3% |
| Exam questions were completely different to mock questions | 20 | 5.1% |
Our Foundation Online course covers the UK amateur radio Foundation exam syllabus. The Foundation licence can only be used to transmit whilst in the UK, so it is of limited use to those outside the UK.
The UK course covers UK licence conditions, which do not apply outside the UK.
If you are looking to get a UK licence that can be used overseas, you would need a UK “Full” licence, not a “Foundation” licence.
If you are genuinely interested in studying for the UK Foundation licence (for use in the UK) and are intending to sit the Foundation Exam in the next three months, you are welcome to apply, otherwise, we would ask you not to apply, so that we can allocate spaces to those in the UK intending to sit an upcoming exam.
Still want to take the course?
If you really want to take the course (perhaps just out of curiosity), we would ask that you make a donation of at least £5 GBP – this will help us to cover our costs and continue to allow us to offer our course for free to those within the UK.
More questions?
For answers to more course questions, see our Foundation Online FAQ
Very possibly. Whether you’re a stand-alone independent trainer, or involved with training for a club, this could be useful. Your students sign up (for free) and can learn at their own pace in parallel with your own training programme.
If you’re a trainer and are curious about our online amateur radio training course, please contact us and we’ll let you have a look at our test area, so you can see how it all works.
Sorry, but no. Our mission is to help get people into the hobby, so our focus is Foundation.
There are several groups that do offer Intermediate and Full courses – See UK Online Amateur Radio Training Courses for a list
Sorry, but we don’t offer a phone service for our Internet-based Foundation Online course.
With over 200 enquiries and applications a month, and this being a free part-time service, it’s not practical for us to handle phone enquiries, course support calls or questions about course material over the phone.
Instead, email us if you have any questions about our course – but check out our Course and Exam FAQ first, as common questions and answers can be found there.
Need to talk about the exam?
Again, we have answers to many exam questions in our Exam FAQ. If you have a question about the Foundation exam that we’ve not answered, we suggest you try to contact the Radio Society of Great Britain – the organisation that runs the amateur radio exams.
At the time of writing, their own exam FAQ has been down for some months, so if our Exam FAQ doesn’t help, perhaps try contacting the RSGB direct by phone or email: Contact RSGB. Please do not contact the RSGB to discuss training courses, as this creates extra work for their staff.
Yes, we have on occasion had existing amateurs ask to join our course for a refresher.
Our course is free to those new to the hobby, but for those with a licence, we normally ask that you show your appreciation in the form of a small donation at some point during the course, as donations help to cover our costs and allow us to provide courses for those looking to get into the hobby. See: Donating to Essex Ham
To apply, go to: Enrol on Foundation Online.
For answers to other common questions, see the HamTrain FAQ.
If you’ve purchased a set of mock tests, or access to our Fast Track course, you might be asking how you get started.
When you make a payment, you’ll be able to download a PDF file that contains your access code.
Forgot to download the PDF, you can get it by logging back on the appropriate page on our Patreon Shop
That one-page PDF contains a link to create an account on Canvas and an access code that you’ll need to enter.
Having a problem? Contact us (including date of purchase and whether the problem is finding the PDF on Patreon, or creating your Canvas account)
 Course book now available! By popular request, we’ve now brought out our “Foundation Study Guide” – our online course material in book format. As well as covering all of the course modules, our study guide includes exam tips, and FAQ and a mock test.
The Foundation Study Guide is available now on Amazon in both Paperback and Kindle formats, as well as on the Apple Bookstore |
