Amateur Radio in Canada is governed by an array of international agreements, federal law, regulations and policy. While you don’t have to know intimate detail of all of these documents, there are some key documents that you should know. These are published by Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) and easily available on the web. They are:
- RBR-4 – Standards for the Operation of Radio Stations in the Amateur Radio Service
- RIC-3 – Information on the Amateur Radio Service
- RIC-9 – Call Sign Policy and Special Event Prefixes
You can find all these and more at:
https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/amateur-radio-operator- certificate-services/en/publications
There are two other important documents published by the Government of Canada of which you should have knowledge. You will be tested on these. These documents are:
- EMCAB-2, published by ISED, this sets standards for dealing with interference
- Safety Code 6, published by Health Canada, this sets standards for safety in environments where there are radio transmitters.
These are available on the web. They are regularly updated and the internet URLs for these documents may change.
Amateur Radio also has a long history of self-regulation. We have developed operating practices and band plans that allow us to organise our activity in ways that makes the best use of the spectrum. This way, Amateurs using one particular transmission mode can find each other, whether they are using SSB voice, digital data techniques, Morse Code by CW or Slow-Scan Television (SSTV).
You can find band plans at the RAC website here: https://www.rac.ca/operating/bandplans/