Online VHF/SRC Course

[creeks]

About 3 years ago I subscribed to the RYA Online VHF/SRC Course in preparation for the SRC exam. I noticed an error in the course and told the RYA who said they would fix it but during the 12 months I had access to the course it still wasn't fixed.
I'm just curious to know if it's yet been fixed and I'd be grateful if anyone currently or recently using the course could check it out.

The error was in the Model Answer to the Mayday call practise question. The model answer says:
"My position is 3.7NM from St. Alban's Head, on a bearing of 195° true"

The RYA VHF Handbook says:
"To conform to the International Marine Vocabulary, you should give the direction first followed by the name of the landmark, and finally the distance."

Send me a PM if you'd rather not post.

 

[Sandy]

Why not follow up your report and ask the RYA.

 

[creeks]

Why not follow up your report and ask the RYA.

I had a heated exchange of emails at the time with the RYA and I don't feel inclined to reopen my argument with them. They appeared to consider the error of little importance which is why I'm curious to know if they have yet corrected it.

 

[lustyd]

I’d agree it’s of very little importance, it’s just a slow and crackly phone there really isn’t a need for such OCD usage. It does make me smile hearing everyone’s posh radio voices though, sometimes I almost expect them to burst into “the Bucket residence!” Mid radio check ?

 

[capnsensible]

VHF for commercial shipping is a vital communication tool. Leisure sailors in my experience, find it useful but mebbe don't practice enough to be confident. Perhaps that's why some view it as some kind of box that mustn't be touched.

 

[zoidberg]

It's important to recognise that many of those listening to and using Marine VHF will not have RYA English as a first language, and need all the help they can get.
I'm thinking of those poor benighted souls fluent in Geordie, Yorkshire and Jockinese.....

 

[lustyd]

VHF for commercial shipping is a vital communication tool. Leisure sailors in my experience, find it useful but mebbe don't practice enough to be confident. Perhaps that's why some view it as some kind of box that mustn't be touched.

One of my favourite things about being in a marina with a lock gate for years was the forced practice on the radio. As a new sailor it did me the world of good having to use it a lot. As you say, it's a communication tool and the pros treat it as such, generally without worrying about every detail being absolutely correct. In that respect it's not too different from speaking a foreign language - you say what's needed to understand or be understood

 

[creeks]

I’d agree it’s of very little importance

Maybe so, but the RYA VHF Handbook still devotes half a page to explaining the correct order. After the sentence I quote in my first post they include an illustration of a helicopter flying away from a lighthouse and go on to say:

"Remember the order of things by imagining that you are giving directions to a helicopter pilot:- such as 'fly south from the lighthouse for three miles'.
Remember that the hypothetical helicopter will be flying from the landmark towards you: make sure you don't send him the wrong way!"

But despite the importance they attach to it in the handbook the Online Course model answer gave the position in an incorrect order with the distance first instead of last.

As I stated in my first post, I am just curious to know if they have corrected the online course, and would be grateful if anyone with access to the course could let me know.

 

[zoidberg]

From 3 years' experience working with helicopter pilots, one should be quite wary of giving them directions. If there's a possible ambiguity, they'll find it!
Many of them still carry a copy of the AA Handbook in the leg pocket of their flying suit, open at the 'Motorways Maps' page. That's so they can come to a hover alongside, and read the big, blue traffic signs for their preferred turnoff.

There's a reason why they're helicopter pilots.

 

[lustyd]

RYA VHF Handbook still devotes half a page to explaining the correct order

Yes. You paid the RYA for a book and they wrote one, whether the information was useful or not. It's a problem with quite a few of the RYA outputs, they turn something very simple into a course and suddenly there's a whole procedure been invented.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Maybe so, but the RYA VHF Handbook still devotes half a page to explaining the correct order. After the sentence I quote in my first post they include an illustration of a helicopter flying away from a lighthouse and go on to say:

"Remember the order of things by imagining that you are giving directions to a helicopter pilot:- such as 'fly south from the lighthouse for three miles'.
Remember that the hypothetical helicopter will be flying from the landmark towards you: make sure you don't send him the wrong way!"

But despite the importance they attach to it in the handbook the Online Course model answer gave the position in an incorrect order with the distance first instead of last.

As I stated in my first post, I am just curious to know if they have corrected the online course, and would be grateful if anyone with access to the course could let me know.

The RYA VHF handbook is not a definitive source for such things. I am sure they have researched it and it probably is correct, but the ITU sets telecommunications rules and the IMO and GMDSS set the rules for distress signals, not the RYA in either case.

 

[zoidberg]

My dear 'Creeks', it is reported that Their Eminences in RYA Towers become quite precious over questions even loosely related to their stewardship of the 'Short Range Certificate' ( and the income stream it represents ). They would certainly wish to be thought as 'The Oracle' in all such matters.

Perhaps you might regenerate your question to them, adding that if they are unwilling or unable to provide you with a reliable, definitive answer, you will seek guidance from OfCom by default.

I rather suspect you will get an answer in short order....

 

[creeks]

The RYA VHF handbook is not a definitive source for such things.

But it officially supports the SRC Course - it says so on the front cover - and in the part of the course in question it contradicts the course.

 

[lustyd]

If this bothers you this much I suggest you never go to the Solent with a VHF switched on ? The rules are more like guidelines, with a couple of exceptions