Northwest Amateur Radio Club (NARC) Training Scheme
As a club we are running a training scheme to bring as
many new people as possible into Amateur Radio.
The club's facilities were visited by Kath Wilson, RSGB Regional Manager
for Region 3, who
commented on the 'excellent facilities that are available for holding
radio amateur exams'
We have already ran over ten M3
foundation courses and we have also ran five
2EŘ intermediate courses. We have a 100% exam pass rate at the N.A.R.C. due to
the efforts of everyone within the club.
Courses are run at regular intervals on demand, and are
available to existing and new members so if you fancy giving it a go
contact us for details of our next
courses or join us at one of our
meetings.
Non-members will be required to join the club prior to
commencing the course. There is a set exam fee payable to OFCOM board of
examinations which you must pay to take the exam.
The N.A.R.C is also linked with St John Fisher RCHS and we
are highly involved in the training of youth members to bring young people
onto the airwaves.
N.A.R.C has also been successfully involved with training of the
visually impaired.
The club recently hosted a
Train the Trainers
session to enhance our standard of tuition.
To aid those planning to take radio
examinations,
Hamtests.co.uk was
created to allow you to take Mock United Kingdom Amateur Radio (ham) exams
using a mock questions pool. There are questions available for Foundation,
Intermediate and Advanced exams.
Registration is required so the system can
help you keep track of your progress. All the courses should be used in
conjunction with external courses and/or training due to practical elements,
hands on experience and of course the actual exams.
The Hamtests site is only intended as an
aid in learning, not a replacement.
Foundation Licence Syllabus – Main
Headings
- Amateur Radio:
The nature of amateur radio.
- Licensing Conditions:
Identifying types of Amateur Licence. Format of Amateur callsigns. Licence
terms and conditions. Assessable items as shown in assessment objectives.
Technical Basics:
Identify Units of measurement and multiple/sub-multiple prefixes. Simple
circuit theory. Frequencies used in power, audio and radio systems.
- Transmitters and Receivers:
Simple block or “concept” diagrams of a receiver. Technical requirements
of radio receivers.
- Feeder and Antenna:
Feeder requirements. Types of antenna. Antenna basics. Balanced antennas.
Meaning of SWR. Use of a dummy load.
- Propagation:
Radio propagation basics.
- EMC: Basics of
electromagnetic compatibility. Station design for EMC. Immunity of radio
receiving and other devices and filtering techniques. Social issues of
Interference.
- Operating Practices and Procedures:
General practices and procedures. Operating through a repeater. Band
plans. Connecting microphones and other audio sources to the transmitter.
Competence in making radio contacts. Connecting a transmitter/receiver.
- Safety: Sources
of danger: mains, power supplies and high current batteries. Actions to be
taken and avoided in the event of an accident. Station layout and
tidiness. Safe use of headphones.
This is a new licence that was
introduced in January 2002. The Foundation licence is designed to get
you involved in amateur radio as quickly as possible. But before you are
allowed to transmit 'live' it is important that you know a little bit
about how your radio works, the dangers of interfering with other radio
users, how not to upset your neighbours or your parents (if you are a
young person) and the rules and regulations of holding a radio
transmitting licence. The courses
are run in a friendly informal atmosphere by experienced radio amateurs. The
course will take about 10-12 hours to complete at the end of which you will
sit an examination comprising of twenty five multiple choice questions. Your
exam paper will be marked on the spot.
Once you have passed the exam you get your 'Pass' certificate
and you are on your way! When you have been issued with your own individual
M3 series callsign you will be able to operate on all bands with the
exception of the 28MHz band without supervision but with a power restriction
of 10 Watts.
Intermediate Licence
Once you have gained experience at the
Foundation level we are sure you will want to take the next step up.
To obtain the Intermediate licence it is
advisable to take a training course. This course is longer than the
Foundation course and aims to teach many of the fundamentals of radio in a
stimulating way by actually undertaking practical tasks such as soldering,
building a small project and a variety of other exercises building on the
experience you have gained as a Foundation licence holder.
After completing the course candidates sit
the Intermediate Licence Examination. Again this examination is a
multiple-choice test based on what was learnt on the course, covering the
basic concepts of radio operating on the amateur bands and the licence
conditions. With both of these successfully completed an Intermediate
licence can be obtained.
When you have been issued with your own 2E0
series callsign you will have access to
all the amateur bands without supervision. The
Permitted power levels are increased to 50 watts. |
