All Class B licencees can now have 100W access to
HF bands on passing the Novice 5wpm Morse Test! Details
Improvements to the Novice A and B Licences Details

RECEIVING:

• The character speed is 12 words per minute (WPM) with slow space speed (i.e. with extra-long spaces between the characters) to reduce the overall speed to 5 WPM.
• The test will be sent from a cassette using computer-generated Morse.
• The Novice receiving test lasts for six minutes and is in the form of part of a typical contact between amateurs. It will consist of callsigns, abbreviations, Q-codes, procedural signals and some punctuation (namely "/" and "?"). There will be no comma and no full stop. There will be a minimum of 120 letters and 7 figures (equivalent to 134 characters because numbers and procedures count double). A maximum of six uncorrected errors will be allowed. NB: My tests usually have less than 120 letters to allow all 10 numbers to be used plus punctuation and procedures. There will be of an announcement, a practice run, a further announcement then the test proper. A final voice announcement signals the end of the test.
• The test that you take will have been designed to include at least one occurrence of every letter (if possible) and to last almost exactly the correct length of time. Note: my tests are sometimes longer than that.
• All callsigns, procedures and Q-codes will be used in the proper context, with the callsigns correct for the locations sent. They will be chosen from typical countries heard daily on the HF bands. Note that name, QTH and signal reports will NOT be repeated, although the callsign will be repeated at the end of the 'over'. The first callsign will be a UK Novice one such as 2E, 2M, 2W, but my tests will start with anything since they are Class-A tests (but still OK for Novice learning).
• The Morse will be computer generated with character speed of 12 words per minute (WPM) with slow space speed (i.e. with extra-long spaces between the characters and words) to reduce the overall speed to 5 WPM.
• Figures and procedure signals will be classed as two letters for timing purposes. The candidate will be required to receive a minimum of 120 letters and 7 figures in the form of a typical exchange between radio amateurs. The duration of the receiving part will be approximately 6 minutes. More than 6 errors will result in failure.
• You will not be allowed to write down the dots and dashes for translation later. Up to three candidates at a time will receive the same test passage.

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SENDING:

• This lasts for three minutes.
• You will be given a card on which will be written part of a typical exchange or QSO to another amateur station. It consists of callsigns, abbreviations, Q-codes, procedural signals and some punctuation. There will be a minimum of 75 letters and 5 figures. This must be sent using a straight (up/down) manual Morse key.
• A maximum of four CORRECTED errors and no UNCORRECTED errors will be allowed.
• The text must be sent at no less than 5 WPM, taking approximately 3 minutes.
• You may increase the sending speed to above 5 WPM if you wish.
• You need not commence sending with the commence traffic "ct" procedural character, but if you do so by choice then it will not be counted as part of the test. All the mock tests in this program start with ct (shown as a "[").
• If you make a mistake in sending you must send the error signal then repeat the word or group. The signal will count as part of the test.

The test will include any of the following commonly-used abbreviations, Q-codes or procedural characters:

• ABT   AGN   ANT   BK   CPI   CPY   CQ   CUL   CW   DE   DR   EL   ES   FB  FER   FM   GA   GD   GE   GM   HPE   HR   HVE   HW   K   MNI   MSG   NW  OC   OM   OP   PSE   PWR   R  RPRT   RST   RX   SIG    SRI   TEMP   TKS  TNX   TU   TX   TXR   UR   VERT   VY   WID   WX   XYL   YL   73  88
• QRA  QRG  QRK  QRL  QRM   QRN   QRO   QRP  QRQ  QRS  QRT  QRV   QRX   QRZ   QSA   QSB   QSL  QSO  QSY  QTH
• ar  ct  bt  kn  va  ?,   /, = or bt (break),   hh (erase). Note: sk is same as va

There will be no commas and no full stops (periods).

The lower case ones are procedural so-called "barred" characters and must be written together with a line over them. They sound like the two letters being sent one after the other without the usual space.

In addition to the list of Q-codes and abbreviations it will help you greatly if you are familiar with typical equipment brands such as Yeasu, Kenwood, Icom, Ten Tec, and antennae names such as vert, loop, beam, Zepp and G5RV etc.

It is worth noting that the examiner might often have difficulty in including infrequently-used letters such as J, X and Z in the text of the tests, so they might tend to occur more frequently in the callsigns.

Only straightforward callsigns such as G4UXD, F6HLD will be sent in the Novice test; reciprocals (eg G4WXL/EA8) and mobile etc (eg G4UXD/M) will not be used. However, such examples are used in my new-style tests in this program, as is the erase character "........" (hh).

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The Class A/B Licence M5xxx

This licence allows greater access to the full range of facilities that Amateur Radio has to offer, and broadens the appeal of the hobby to a wider audience. It allows more amateurs will have the opportunity to experience worldwide communications, and newcomers to the hobby to make contacts on a wider range of frequencies.

Class A/B stems from discussions between the Radio Society of Great Britain and the Radiocommunications Agency, following consultation with the Amateur Radio community carried out by both organisations.

The A/B licence uses the callsign series M5xxx. It provides access to all amateur bands, on passing the Radio Amateurs Examination and a 5 words-per-minute Morse test. 100 Watts PEP output is allowed on the bands below 30MHz (the HF bands); and 400 Watts PEP output above.

In summary, the improvements are:

• Access to the HF bands with a lower Morse test speed
• The Class A/B licence to provide access to all HF bands at the 100 Watt PEP level
• Higher output power on all Novice bands
• Wider allocations on existing Novice bands
• Access to 144MHz for Novice licensees
• Safeguards for Morse and data sub-bands

In the longer term an incentive-based licensing system will be introducted.
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The Novice A and Novice B licences now allow an power output of 10 Watts PEP. New frequencies include the 144MHz band, an SSB allocation on 3. 5MHz and the extension of the Novice HF allocation to include the QRP CW calling frequencies.

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