Current FCC Element 7 pool (2021) & Element 3
Free online practice tests for the GMDSS Radio Operator license, from the FCC's current question pools.
The Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) is the equipment and procedures that keep a distress call from going unanswered. Deck officers on vessels required to carry GMDSS equipment hold the FCC's GMDSS Radio Operator license, earned by passing written Element 1 and Element 7.
The FCC replaced the Element 7 question pool in October 2021: 600 new questions covering today's equipment, including Iridium alongside Inmarsat, with the 2012 pool withdrawn six months later. The Element 7 practice test on this site is that current pool, every question keyed to its FCC pool number, so what you practice is what the examiner draws from.
Passing the GMDSS exam is a matter of precision. Frequencies, channel numbers, alarm signals and the order of priority are all fair game, and the wrong answers are written to look plausible. Repetition with the real pool is the reliable way to make the details stick.
The current 2021 pool: DSC, Inmarsat and Iridium, NAVTEX, EPIRBs, SARTs and distress, urgency and safety procedures. 100 questions on the exam, 75 to pass.
600 questions · Open the module →
General radiotelephone operator knowledge: radio law, operating procedures and equipment fundamentals. Required for the GROL and the GMDSS Maintainer license.
605 questions · Open the module →
GMDSS operating practices for vessels sailing only in sea area A1. 50 questions on the exam, 38 to pass.
300 questions · Open the module →
The written element every GMDSS license also requires. 24 questions on the exam, 18 to pass.
144 questions · Open the module →
Maintaining GMDSS equipment rather than operating it? The GMDSS Radio Maintainer license needs Elements 1, 3 and 9; see the FCC radio license practice tests for Element 9 and the Element 8 ship radar endorsement.
Element 7 is organised into key topics that follow the GMDSS itself: the system overview and sea areas, NAVTEX and maritime safety information, digital selective calling on VHF and MF/HF, Inmarsat and Iridium satellite services, EPIRBs and search and rescue transponders, survival craft radios, watchkeeping, and the distress, urgency and safety procedures that tie them together.
Element 3 covers the general radiotelephone knowledge behind the equipment: radio law and regulations, operating procedures, and electronic fundamentals. The GMDSS Radio Operator license does not require Element 3, but the GROL and the GMDSS Maintainer license do.
These are real questions from the U.S. Coast Guard question pool, exactly as they appear in the bank. Click through to any question to answer it and see whether you got it right.
Written Elements 1 and 7. Element 1 is basic radio law and operating practice (the Marine Radio Operator Permit element); Element 7 is GMDSS operating practice. The Restricted GMDSS Radio Operator license, for vessels that stay in sea area A1, uses Element 7R instead of Element 7.
Yes. The FCC approved the new 600-question Element 7 pool on 6 October 2021 and examiners stopped using the 2012 pool in April 2022. The Element 7 questions on this site are the 2021 pool; the retired 2012 questions were removed.
Element 7 asks 100 questions drawn from the 600-question pool, and you need 75 correct to pass. Element 1 asks 24 questions (18 to pass). Element 3, if your license needs it, asks 100 questions (75 to pass).
Crew members responsible for radio communications on vessels required to carry GMDSS equipment, which includes most commercial vessels on international voyages. Deck officers earn it as part of their STCW credentials, and the Coast Guard accepts the FCC license for the GMDSS endorsement.
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