A fellwalker friend of mine who lives near Worcester is keen to sit his foundation licence for the sole purpose of taking part in SOTA. No courses are available at present with the two clubs local to where he lives. Is anyone aware of any club local to them who is offering a two day course and exam over a weekend? My friend is prepared to travel if necessary.
73 Phil
In reply to G4OBK:
Best to try the RSGB website, it isn’t very intuitive to navigate but you can find clubs with the radius of search set, and widen it until you get what you want, a club doing the weekend course. Alternatively contact the RSGB.
I think all the local clubs do tuition on club evenings, but he could try MARS, S B’ham, Sutton Coldfield and Wythall ARS’s as all being close(ish) to the motorway network.
73
Brian G8ADD
In reply to G8ADD:
Thank’s for the advice Brian - my friend Geoff will no doubt read your post and make further enquiries.
73 Phil
In reply to G4OBK:
Is anyone aware of any club local to them who is
offering a two day course and exam over a weekend?
My friend is prepared to travel if necessary.
Cambridge may seem a long way to travel, but the next weekend
Foundation Course at CDARC is on 1st and 2nd December 2012.
See Home - Sport bet Kings2 for more information.
When I spoke to Peter Howell (our Training Coordinator) last week,
there were still several places available.
73, John M0VCM
In reply to G4OBK:
two day course and exam over a weekend? My friend is prepared to
travel if necessary.
Harwell ARS, Didcot, Oxfordshire
Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 December 9.00am - 5.00pm (finishing with the exam)
http://www.ntay.com/hars/courses.html
Foundation Licence course: 3/4th November 2012
Newbury and District ARS run regular weekend courses. Candidates sit the Foundation Exam on the Sunday afternoon. If you are interested in our next course please contact Steve M0SEL (details below)…
http://www.nadars.org.uk/courses.asp
Karen
Many thank’s Karen and John for the information. If my friend could get to the Newbury course he would have his licence in time for the winter bonus on December 1st! Harwell and Didcot and Cambridge are a long drive but as they are over a weekend also a possibility.
73 Phil
In reply to G4OBK:
If my friend could
get to the Newbury course he would have his licence in time for the
winter bonus on December 1st!
Winter bonus - lol Phil. Worcester to Newbury only 82 miles - nothing in SOTA terms!
Good Luck to your friend. Look forward to working him in the near future.
Karen
My son got his foundation (and Intermediate) passes with NADARS at Newbury. I can recommend the course, assuming that it is the same as it was a few years ago when he did it. I sat in on both of them with him and helped out on some of the practical bits, but they did have plenty of club members coming along to help out.
Newbury is only half an hour drive for us. We originally went there as there was a Foundation course earlier than any of the more local clubs, but when it came to progressing to intermediate returning was a no-brainer. It’s a shame they don’t do an Advanced course too.
73, Matt
In reply to G7GCR:
Hi Matt
Thank you for the extra information in regard to the courses run at Newbury - it sounds like a really good set up they have there. At the end of the day it’s all down to the willing volunteers who help others to enjoy our hobby, and they must have some good people at the Newbury club.
73 Phil
They do have some good people there. The course was (is?) run by Ray G4FON (of the morse-tutor software fame). He reminded me of the best physics teachers at school years ago - lots of background knowledge so he could expand upon the topics and back them up with real life experience rather than just reading the material from a textbook. He got through the syllabus fine, but was willing to go off on (relevant) tangents and explore things of interest, encouraging discussion of the whole hobby.
The foundation course is one weekend, the intermediate takes two. I much preferred that format to the “an hour a week for 10 weeks” that some clubs do. As a side-interest thing, the course is very close to Greenham Common. We went for a walk over there afterwards. Whilst the runway has gone now, many of the old military bits are still present, including the missile silos which are all open (but behind security fencing with warnings not to enter as they are still a prohibited area). It’s very interesting to see the place that was in the news so often when I was growing up.
73, Matt
In reply to G4OBK:
Phil, Southport & District ARC are running a Foundation Course over two weekends on 10th and 17th November 2012. I am Course Administrator for SADARC and can take your friend if he/she wishes to travel to Ormskirk? Please let me know via rob@g0hrt.co.uk if they wish to get more details? I shall be registering all candidates within the next few days. 73 Rob Harwood G0HRT
In reply to G4OBK:
Although not a lot of support for the advanced level the Workington radio club run extremely good weekend courses for both Foundation and Intermediate licenses with very high pass rates.
73, Derek
Thanks also Matt, Rob and Derek.
I’m pleased to say my friend took up the Newbury option and is now signed up for the course on November 3rd/4th. He’s staying in a B&B recommended by the course tutor. Apparently people travel long distances to undertake the courses and take the exams. As you indicated Matt, it’s a very well organised set up at Newbury.
73 Phil