From SKoopman@srd.ca
Please see information below about the virtual Amateur (Ham) Radio certification course being offered by the Revelstoke Amateur Radio Society. Residents who join our regional volunteer emergency radio communication team may have their course fee reimbursed by the Strathcona RD following completion of the course.
The course will run on Sunday and Thursday evenings from May 16 - June 17, 2021. Below you will find some general information about the upcoming course.
Registration, Payment, and Refunds
You will be considered Registered once payment has been received. Payment ($120 per person) can be made via Interac E-Transfer to this email address (JohnMBell@gmail.com), using the password: Stoked
Refunds will be available in full up until 12:00 PM Pacific on May 16, 2021. After that point no refunds will be possible. Paying students are also welcome to audit future online Basic courses at no additional charge.
Class Format
The classes will be run over Zoom video conference. There will be one permanent Zoom meeting ID/password combination for the entire course. All live sessions will be recorded and will be made available to all students.
Classes will take place on Sunday and Thursday evenings, 6:30-9:00pm Pacific Time from Sunday, May 16 - Thursday, June 17. The first four weeks will cover course content and the last week will be for exam review. Each class will follow this approximate schedule (all times are Pacific):
6:20 - 6:30 Assemble
6:30 - 6:50 Check in and review
6:50 - 7:30 Course content
7:30 - 7:40 Break
7:40 - 8:20 Course content
8:20 - 8:30 Break
8:30 - 9:00 Enrichment
I like to include additional presentations on topics not necessarily covered by the exam as a form of enrichment. Past topics have included digital data/voice modes, Summits On The Air, and an overview of Handheld radios. If you are particularly interested in any topics related to amateur radio (like satellites, kit building, or anything else,) let me know and I'll try to fit it into the enrichment sessions. Occasionally course material may run into the enrichment block.
Time Commitment
There will be 25 hours of classes (with breaks) and 4-5 hours of reading over the 5 week course. You should also anticipate another 5-10 hours of self-guided studying to prepare for the final exam (depending on your technical knowledge and learning style.) I am happy to answer any questions you might have and discuss studying strategies that will work for your needs.
Classes will also be recorded and will be available in case you should be unable to attend any of the live sessions.
The Exam
The final exam for Basic qualifications is a 100 multiple-choice question test. A minimal passing grade for Basic is 70%, and 80% for Basic with Honors (see Section 5.3 of RIC-1, linked in Resources.)
Thanks to a collaboration with examiners on Vancouver Island, we have approval from ISED to conduct online amateur radio exams. You will need a webcam, a calculator, and a private space free of distractions. The exam for this course will be held sometime in March at a date to be determined (probably the week after the course ends.) Both the exam and the license are free.
Resources
We will be using the Amateur Radio Basic Qualifications Manual created by the UBC Amateur Radio Society and distributed under the GNU Free Documentation license. This is the most up to date study guide available and we have been given an advanced copy before it is released to the general public.
We will also be referring to the following documents from Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada (Formerly Industry Canada.) These can be a little dry, but a lot of the content on the exam comes directly from these documents. You can find them here:
A practice exam and study question tool are available online for the Basic qualification, along with the entire Basic question/answer pool. We'll be getting into this later in the course, but historically the more time you can spend practicing exam questions the higher your chances of passing will be. It is never too early to start familiarizing yourself with the exam content.
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