For years, RSGB has produced training guides for all three levels of amateur radio licences, with the current entry-level manual being the RSGB’s “Foundation Licence Manual for Radio Amateurs”.
This training book is produced and sold by the RSGB , and it covers the Foundation syllabus in sufficient detail to pass your first exam, although it does cover a fair amount of information that’s not required knowledge for the exam, making it a little bloated in places, notably in the technical sections.
The manual includes several pictures, tables and drawings to help with study. It’s 42 pages long and broken down into sections covered by training courses and the exam paper itself, including several pages of adverts.
The book is written by respected amateur radio trainer Alan Betts G0HIQ and is published by the RSGB in paperback and Kindle format.
Be warned that there are various versions of the manual in circulation, and unhelpfully, the cover doesn’t state the version number, making it tricky to ensure you have the right version for the exam that you are taking.
RSGB Foundation Manual Availability
The Foundation Licence Manual (by the RSGB) is available from around £8 online from:
ISBN: 9781 9101 9363 1 |
 Alternatives? We’ve released a handy Foundation Study Guide – This is available in both paperback and Kindle format from Amazon.
Our new Foundation Study Guide covers the 2024 syllabus and is suitable for exams both before and after the syllabus change date of 1st September 2024. The Guide covers the essentials and is broken down into sections that match our course modules. The guide ends with some handy tips on how to pass the Foundation exam, as well as a mock test. It also contains a handy glossary and an exam FAQ. Foundation Study Guide is available from Amazon in two formats: Kindle & Paperback |
RSGB Book Versions
The exam syllabus changed on 1st of September 2019, so older books (such as Foundation Licence Now!”) should not be used.
The latest version that we know of, is marked as “Third Edition First Printed 2024”
Updates and corrections can be found here: RSGB Foundation Manual Corrections
Sections of the book
| Section | Number of Pages |
| Technical Basics | 6 |
| Transmitters & Receivers | 3 |
| Feeders & Antennas | 5 |
| Propagation | 2 |
| Licence Conditions | 4 |
| EMC | 3 |
| Safety | 4 |
| Operating Procedures | 5 |
Alternatives?
| There’s our newly-released Foundation Study Guide available in paperback and Kindle format.
We have also released a 35-page printable PDF Guide is available free to our Patreon Tier 2 and 3 members, or in our Patreon Store. See HamTrain Revision Guide (35 page PDF) |
RSGB Manuals
 Foundation Licence Manual Cost is around £8-£10, and available as a Paper version or Kindle Version |
 Intermediate Licence Manual After your Foundation, comes Intermediate. The book’s about £9, and is available as a Paper version or Kindle Version |
 Full Licence Manual After Intermediate, comes the Full licence, and the manual for that is about £12, and is available as a Paper version |
Our online courses are FREE. There are no live lessons and you study at a time to suit you. Start dates:
