Reddit reviews Foundation Licence Now

>Do I have to take an exam as part of getting the license?

Yes. The first license is the foundation license and all you have to do is read a book with some fairly basic things to understand, complete some informal practical assessments and then sit the short multiple-choice question paper. I did it when I was 15 by reading the book, completing some mock tests at hamtests.co.uk and then contacting a club to complete the practicals and sit the exam.

The Foundation morse is just an "appreciation" practical - the instructor slowly pounds out some short messages with a morse key and speaker, and you write down the dots and dashes, then translate to English by looking them up in the booklet. You can't pass or fail.

IMO this is not the ideal treatment of morse, which should really be learned at 20wpm, but the point of the practical is to teach you morse, or test you on it - it's more like a primary school-level show-and-tell, "this is what morse is, kids".

The Foundation license is more or less a participation prize - you near-literally cannot fail.

2m and 70cm with handhelds doesn't really need much more regulation than CB's or PMR radio, and the syllabus reflects that - IMO the point is to make you feel like you've taken the first step, and to make newcomers who are nervous or apprehensive feel like they've "passed" something and so they know they can do it. With the foundation license you're allowed to use these frequencies, mostly the local repeaters, but unlike CB or PMR you have to call using your official Ofcom-issued callsign, making you feel like a grownup and "a real ham".

IMO there's no point in studying independently for the Foundation - the syllabus is so dumbed down you might even learn the wrong answers. My club have been classes for years, and the only guy who ever failed revealed afterwards that he'd been to embarrassed to admit he had dyslexia (for which accommodations would have been made, had they known).

Just sign up for the nearest available course in your area, and stop over-thinking it.

Good advice. Agree with ML course. Did my foundation there earlier this year. Booked for the intermediate as well now. Local clubs were terribly disorganised and not worth the effort even talking to.

Look at the RSGB practice exams here for what is involved: http://rsgb.org/main/clubs-training/training-resources/

And get the "foundation now" book. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1872309801/

It was pretty easy to pass with one eye shut. Quite a few people got 100%. Morse appreciation was a simple listen and send test. You could transcribe easily. There was a VHF QSO, HF rig set up, AMU set up and that was it.