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Israel Amateur Radio Club Becoming an Israeli ham

Getting licensed as a Technician (Class D)

Amateur radio exams take place in Israel about twice a year, depending on demand.

If you would like to take an exam, please notify IARC, and we will inform you when an exam will take place. We try to schedule exams on evenings to make it easier for working people and students to attend.

Class D license grants you with access to all VHF, UHF and the higher bands, with enough power to make contacts. Your callsign will be in the 4Z7 series, followed by 3 letters.

The exams are administered by the Ministry of Communications in Israel, according to the syllabus of the Technician and General levels. Examples of previous exams are available in the downloads section.

Before attending the exam, you should apply for an exam using the form at the MoC website (by faxing it), and the MoC will send you a request for payment of the exam fee (which equals currently to 60 NIS). You should arrive with that a bank-stamped receipt to the exam

Once in a while, IARC organizes courses for studying towards the exam. Please notify us if you are interested, and we will notify you on when a course is about to open. Alternatively, a book by the open university contains most of the topics covered by the syllabus (minus satellites). That book can be purchased on the IARC offices, or ordered from the open university.

Upgrading to a General license (Class B)

Class B opens up the HF bands, and optionally offers a shorter and more attractive callsign. The technical topics required by this license class are the same as Class D, which means that no further theoretical study is required. However, some practical knowledge is.

There are 2 routes for obtaining this class:

  • The older route is getting examined in Morse Code, at a speed of 5 WPM (Words-Per-Minute). This route grants you with a callsign from the 4Z5 series, followed by 2 letters.

    Like in Class D exams, the same form is used, the same fee is required, and you should arrive with a receipt of that payment to the exam. Unlike Class D exams, each applicant is examined individually, and therefore, there is no need to wait for a large group of people to assemble. Exams are scheduled by coordinating directly with an MoC-approved examiner. Call or mail IARC to be forwarded to an available examiner.

  • The newer route is simpler if you just can't catch the code. You will need to perform 100 contacts over HF under supervision of a licensed ham. Any Class B club ham station can help you reach such a status. This route grants you with a callsign from the 4Z5 series, with the exact same priviledges as the original route.

Getting licensed as a Advanced (Class A)

You will need to hold a radio amateur license for at least a year before getting examined. The exam is frontal, takes up to 1 hour, and requires you to demonstrate knowledge in the amateur radio field. Naturally, a syllabus for this level is available.

If you really consider applying, you probably know what to do.

Getting licensed based on a non-Israeli license

If you already hold a non-Israeli license, you may be eligible of skipping the normal licensing procedure. You should contact IARC for details.

If you really can't wait a day before getting into the country and powering up your radio, and your license is from a country that participates in CEPT, you can operate your radio using your existing callsign for up to 3 months, subject to CEPT rules, and Israeli law and bandplan.