Advanced Certificate Course

VHS ARC
1

For Ham’s who have their Basic certificate, The North Shore ARC are running an Advanced Certificate course starting mid September.

A summary of the course is below and more details are in the Course section at www.nsarc.ca.

ADVANCED AMATEUR RADIO COURSE:

· The course covers six Saturdays: September 19 – October 31, 2015(not Oct. 3rd) from 9:15 am to 12:45 pm

· Industry Canada Exam is scheduled for Saturday Morning - November 07, 2015

· Registration is September 19 at 8:45 am. Class starts at 9:15 am

· Cost $120 Cash or Cheques only, at the door and that includes a binder of useful Ham information, power point lesson slides, text book, coffee and snacks.

· Optional AFTERNOON PRACTICUM sessions from 1:30 to 4 pm are planned for some Saturdays, on the same day as lessons and include informal, practical sessions with hands-on demonstrations and discussions using equipment in the NSEM radio room.

· Class Location: our usual meeting room.

· Information Contact: Chief Instructor: Tom Dunn VE7TD. Tel: 604-298-9925 E-mail: ve7td@rac.ca or Tom.Dunn@shaw.ca Check NSARC Website for complete details.

73 Ian VE7FTO

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Thanks for posting! I’m definitely going to try and get in – that early start time sucks though.

3

So, let’s imagine someone (me) took a Basic course, learned the minimum you
needed to pass the course, and promptly forgot everything.

Also that you were very weak on basic electronics.

How does that factor into success in this course?

4

I’ll let you know when I’m done the course ( I’m in the same boat )

5

…and I’m in the same boat too!!

With the Basic course, electronics is just one part, in addition to operating procedures, law, etc.

My understanding of the advanced course is that it’s more about electronics, how transmitters/receivers work, etc. When you pass you can then design and build your own transmitters.

I have no projects currently… just doing the course to learn more stuff!

PS The NSARC guys are good and really know what they’re talking about.

73 Ian VE7FTO

6

Yeah, I mostly want to get advanced so I can build my own transceivers to play around. Also, being able to use the entire frequency range would be nice.

7

Hi Sean

If you scored 80% or greater in the Basic course then you already have full spectrum access. It’s only our USA friends who limit some spectrum to Advanced only users.

Like you I’m keen to explore designing my own transceivers. Of course the easy ones are CW only… so may have to learn Morse too !!

Ian

(Sent from a mobile device. I apologize for the brevity.)

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I only got 78% on my exam, so no HF for me.

9

For those interested in the Advance Course, I discovered tonight that you should pre-register with Tom at ve7td at rac.ca. He needs to know your callsign, name, address and contact number.

There are already 17 pre-registrations for the course. Pre-registration helps to secure your position if it becomes full plus it ensures Tom has printed documentation for you on Day 1.

PS If you want to have a look at the possible exam questions you will be asked, visit http://apc-cap.ic.gc.ca/datafiles/amateur_advanced_questions_en.pdf. This also indicates what you will learn.

73 Ian VE7FTO

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Did you guys get a response back from v37td? I haven’t gotten one yet.

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I know the instructor Tom Dunn VE7TD. He knows his stuff and is good
at teaching it.

If you just barely passed the Basic exam, with minimal knowledge of
electronics, then you will have some catching up to do. You should
still be able to pass the Advanced exam with enough study.

12

I’ve heard nothing from Tom… but then I wasn’t really expecting anything. The email is just so he has an idea of how much material to print. Actual registration is 8:45am on Saturday 19 Sept.

Ian VE7FTO

(Sent from a mobile device. I apologize for the brevity.)

13

Hey guys, I’m just wondering how the course went (did anyone end up attending)? I’ve just recently applied for a job that deals with electronics work and it lead me to thinking that I should try to get my advanced license. Unfortunately I didn’t see any of these posts until today.

So how did it go? If anyone has a copy of the advanced study guide, I may be interested in buying it from you. Or if anyone is still looking to study for the exam, maybe we can start a study group?

Cheers!
Tom
VA7WTX

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I have my Basic and I am thinking about getting my Advanced in 2016…
But so far all I have done is think about it…
So a study group may be a good idea…

Bob
VA7TCP

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I decided to just go for it and study for it on my own. I passed the exam last night with a 92% score. It actually wasn’t that difficult if you spend time reading over the questions and taking practice exams. However, there are several sections that would require some human interaction with a solid knowledge base. :slight_smile: I’m still game to meet up and learn more about some of the topics.

Cheers.
Tom

1 Like
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Nice job - we just need an examiner in the VHS group - lets get a CW
session going and get a few of our advanced licensees registered.

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++@toptekkie

We just need 5 wpm morse code!

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Yeah, happy to have it now. Morse would be fun to learn. Perhaps we should start the Wednesday evening meetings again?

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I am happy to do this - my idea was to run a morse lesson on the air from
VHS-ARC
We would use a simplex frequency and play a tape recording or computer
generated audio file followed by a voice reading the data sent.
Initially start with random characters and punctuation then words and
phrases.
As long as the operator holds a basic license this can be done.

Start at really slow speed and gradually work up to the 12 words/minute bit
speed and 5wpm spacing between characters.

1 Like
20

Since VHS-ARC now has a station license, and is thus a club in the
eyes of Industry Canada, we can have one or two examiners for the
club.

  • William, VE6UUG -