Top Tip Free training course for foundation ham licence

Analoguesat

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Ive come across this today


A totally free training course for the Foundation ham licence. As a bonus the practical requirements for the course are suspended for the duration of the covid-19 crisis. The £27.50 exam fee is still payable but the course may be of interest to anyone who has thought about getting licensed and is going to have a few hours to spare over the next month or so.
 

Analoguesat

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Im all signed up for the May course - anyone else from here doing it??
 

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Nah. Had my A Licence since 1973!
 

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Interesting - might consider having a go (just downloaded the syllabus and will be taking a closer look) , although probably a later exam time and not in May.
 

Analoguesat

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Interesting - might consider having a go (just downloaded the syllabus and will be taking a closer look) , although probably a later exam time and not in May.


From what I can tell if you have a reasonable technical / physics background its not too difficult to pass. Theres no particularly weird concepts to master.

The problem Ive always had is that there are only 2 ham radio clubs in the Borders area (Galashiels & Berwick) neither of them do licence training. Im not travelling to Edinburgh or Newcastle just to do it - so being able to do everything from home is perfect
 

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I think that there's now a new syllabus compared to when my wife went through the three stages but the foundation stage basically requires just attending the course.

Good luck everyone!
 

Analoguesat

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I think that there's now a new syllabus compared to when my wife went through the three stages but the foundation stage basically requires just attending the course.

Good luck everyone!

The practical requirements have been suspended for the duration of the covid crisis, and the exam is done on line with invigilation via webcam, so even the remotest corners of the UK can get involved.
 

PaulR

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The practical requirements have been suspended for the duration of the covid crisis, ...
Yes I saw that. Lucky you. That was the part that my wife disliked the most as she hates the smell of solder flux intensely!

...the exam is done on line with invigilation via webcam, so even the remotest corners of the UK can get involved.
We had a talk from the president of the RSGB, Dave Wilson M0OBW, a year or so back about the plans (!) to move to online testing. He was able to give a demonstration of how it will work.

One really interesting bit (to me at least) is that the questions are set dynamically for each entrant. This means that everyone taking the exam at the same time will have a different exam "paper".
 

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From what I can tell if you have a reasonable technical / physics background its not too difficult to pass. Theres no particularly weird concepts to master.

The problem Ive always had is that there are only 2 ham radio clubs in the Borders area (Galashiels & Berwick) neither of them do licence training. Im not travelling to Edinburgh or Newcastle just to do it - so being able to do everything from home is perfect

Hi,

Check out this video from Essex hams Foundation Online - FREE Amateur Radio Course | Ham Train I think this may be of help.
Apparently at the moment you can do the foundation exam on line. This is the link for the course Foundation Online - FREE Amateur Radio Course | Ham Train

Anyone can join the Essex ham club, I'm a member but I live in Northampton.

Good luck,

Sandy G0FMN
 

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Yup at the moment you can do EVEYTHING required to get the Foundation licence online. (Obviously you cant do the practical side of the exam at home but the requirement for that has been dropped for the time being).

Im signed up - my course starts this evening. They run monthly starting on the first Sunday of the month. However if anyone is interested get signed up asap - there are a limited number of exam slots available and they fill up fast. Currently they are fully booked until late June.
 

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I got my Licence in July 1983, but due to work commitments I never got to Cullercoats.
 

Analoguesat

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According to an email Ive just received there is a possibility of a mid May course being run if there is sufficient demand. There are almost 300 folk signed up for the current one Im on!
 

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I wonder who remembers the long hand RAE with 2 paper one for license conditions and the other technical I had to go all the way down to broadstairs for my cw test .
How much things have changed over the years .
 

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I wonder who remembers the long hand RAE with 2 paper one for license conditions and the other technical I had to go all the way down to broadstairs for my cw test .
How much things have changed over the years .


qv Post #3 above!

I took it after evening classes at a school other than my own - as I was only 16 I had to get my own Headmaster's permission to attend.
 

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I wonder who remembers the long hand RAE with 2 paper one for license conditions and the other technical I had to go all the way down to broadstairs for my cw test .
How much things have changed over the years .



I remember - I went to Trusthorpe Linc's for my CW test
 

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subman

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I found out the other day that the testing station at Broadstairs has all gone and there is a supermaket on the site . But things have changed so much over the years in the old days it was the surplus shops down Lisle Street and Edgware road buying 19 sets with a 807 in the PA or if you were rich you had a Codar AT5 .
 

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jeallen01

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The Lisle Street shops of old - now thereby hangs a tale from my teenage years!

Having been for an interview at Kent Uni in Canterbury, and being on my way home to Oxfordshire, I stopped there to browse those shops - and was doing that (wearing a duffel coat!) when I heard a voice to one side saying "Are you looking for a girlfriend, sonny?"

Not quite hearing or "twigging" the "implication", I turned one way - to see a "lady" standing in the shop door way, and she then repeated the question - to which I replied to the effect that I was NOT (possibly because I hadn't the wherewithall to "get to know" that lady :D)!
 
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Lazarus

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I found out the other day that the testing station at Broadstairs has all gone and there is a supermaket on the site . But things have changed so much over the years in the old days it was the surplus shops down Lisle Street and Edgware road buying 19 sets with a 807 in the PA or if you were rich you had a Codar AT5 .

When I was a Marconi Apprentice in Chelmsford I often popped into Town to trawl Edgware Road and Tottenham Court Road. Henry's was a favourite haunt.
 
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