VHF course help

[lustyd]

I was looking at booking the Mrs in to do VHF finally, and refresh for myself and am falling at the first hurdle. Found a centre offering "VHF course and exam" for £160 but then at the very last moment they added £90 exam fee on, taking us to £500 for two people Not a chance in hell am I spending that much money on something this basic.

So I look around and the course can be done online for ~£60 but without exam. This seems more reasonable, so I look into booking the exam separately. Absolutely zero clue how to do this after an hour of searching. Literally nobody I can find offers exam only apart from the RYA page which has a payment portal to take the money but no info whatsoever on how to book or where the exam would take place.

Any ideas other than spending my £500 on wine and using the VHF regardless (current best way forwards)? I'm starting to see why so many people are clearly untrained.

 

[Mark-1]

Exam only, looks like £20:

RYA SRC Exam Only

 

[ylop]

Exam only, looks like £20:

RYA SRC Exam Only

Just in case Lusty gets too excited - I believe that’s a fee for using Chieftans training room and dummy radios for the exam. You still need to pay the RYA/Examiner £76 for the test/certificate. (And the online provider for their training).

 

[finestgreen]

Solent Boat Training will do the classroom course for £69 or £20 if you do a practical course (not including the rya exam fee)

RYA VHF SRC Radio | Solent Boat Training

Edit: £49/free if you can do a weekday

 

[Supertramp]

Buy a book



Then spend £484 on wine...

 

[barca nova]

I was looking at booking the Mrs in to do VHF finally, and refresh for myself and am falling at the first hurdle. Found a centre offering "VHF course and exam" for £160 but then at the very last moment they added £90 exam fee on, taking us to £500 for two people Not a chance in hell am I spending that much money on something this basic.

So I look around and the course can be done online for ~£60 but without exam. This seems more reasonable, so I look into booking the exam separately. Absolutely zero clue how to do this after an hour of searching. Literally nobody I can find offers exam only apart from the RYA page which has a payment portal to take the money but no info whatsoever on how to book or where the exam would take place.

Any ideas other than spending my £500 on wine and using the VHF regardless (current best way forwards)? I'm starting to see why so many people are clearly untrained.

You can blame the Germans! Seriously. When SRC started, it took me half a day to teach people the basics necessary and then I tested them. The Germans objected and insisted that it took at least a full day to teach people how to press the red button!. They threatened to refuse to accept our licences. So the RYA stretched the course and later on insisted the examiner had to be a seperate person from the teacher, all of which made the cost much higher than it needed to be. The as with all the other courses they pushed to take them away from clubs and into commercial businesses. At that point I gave up instructing altogether - it has become a money making racket.

 

[lustyd]

Buy a book



Then spend £484 on wine...

Doesn’t include a certificate though

 

[Mark-1]

.

 

[RunAgroundHard]

Buy a book

View attachment 203693

Then spend £484 on wine...

He looks angry. I wonder what he is VHFing about? Maybe no room at the marina.

 

[KevinV]

He looks angry. I wonder what he is VHFing about? Maybe no room at the marina.

"Toupé overboard!"

 

[st599]

You can blame the Germans! Seriously. When SRC started, it took me half a day to teach people the basics necessary and then I tested them. The Germans objected and insisted that it took at least a full day to teach people how to press the red button!. They threatened to refuse to accept our licences. So the RYA stretched the course and later on insisted the examiner had to be a seperate person from the teacher, all of which made the cost much higher than it needed to be. The as with all the other courses they pushed to take them away from clubs and into commercial businesses. At that point I gave up instructing altogether - it has become a money making racket.

You can blame the RYA - they asked the MCA for permission to teach the ETSI standardised SRC, then decided to unilaterally remove parts of the syllabus.

 

[Mark-1]

You can blame the RYA - they asked the MCA for permission to teach the ETSI standardised SRC, then decided to unilaterally remove parts of the syllabus.

Which they were entitled to do in the UK and on UK flagged vessels. All the Germans said was that it wouldn't be recognised on German Flagged vessels. Which is fine.

So the RYA did the right thing making it as quick and cheap as possible. And the wrong thing making it pricier on the off chance people might move to Germany.

Ideally we'd be like America and not bother with a license at all. That would be far more "inclusive". Especially since we don't enforce it.

 

[st599]

Can't happen in the UK as we're close enough to other countries to cause interference, so the region 1 rules require the ETSI course. The UK wasn't in a position to make that change and didn't apply to make that change at the relevant ITU group.

Similar to the UK's stance on VDES of putting the head in the sand and hoping it'll go away.

 

[wonkywinch]

Didn't someone do an FOI on Ofcom and found that nobody had ever been caught, prosecuted or fined for using a radio with a licence?

 

[Mark-1]

Can't happen in the UK as we're close enough to other countries to cause interference

You keep saying that but you've never backed it up with a link.

Seems implausible to me.

 

[ylop]

The as with all the other courses they pushed to take them away from clubs and into commercial businesses.

Plenty of clubs are still RTCs. I doubt the RYA has “pushed to take away” any training from clubs which are willing to run them properly.

 

[lustyd]

Didn't someone do an FOI on Ofcom and found that nobody had ever been caught, prosecuted or fined for using a radio with a licence?

All good until you escape from blighty

 

[st599]

You keep saying that but you've never backed it up with a link.

Seems implausible to me.

It's a requirement under Article S47 of the ITU Radio Regulations - 47.1 mandates the requirement for training, 47.24 mandates the certificates allowed for non-SOLAS vessels, 47.27 references the documents that give the detailed requirements for long range and short range certificates. This is ITU Resolution 343 (SRC being the bits of the LRC syllabus required in sea area A1).

A General knowledge of radiocommunications in the maritime mobile service
A.1 The general principles and basic features of the maritime mobile service.
B Detailed practical knowledge and ability to use radio equipment
B.1 The VHF radio installation. Use of VHF equipment in practice.
B.2 The MF/HF radio installation. Use of MF/HF equipment in practice.
B.3 Purpose and use of digital selective calling facilities and techniques.
C Operational procedures of the GMDSS and detailed practical operation of GMDSS
subsystems and equipment
C.1 Basic introduction to GMDSS procedures.
C.2 Distress, urgency and safety communication procedures in the GMDSS.
C.3 Distress, urgency and safety communication procedures by radiotelephony in the old
distress and safety system.
C.4 Protection of distress frequencies.
C.5 Maritime safety information (MSI) systems in the GMDSS.
C.6 Alerting and locating signals in the GMDSS.
C.7 Procedures for cancelling an inadvertent false alert transmission.
D Operational procedures and regulations for radiotelephone communications
D.1 Ability to exchange communications relevant to the safety of life at sea.
D.2 Regulations, obligatory procedures and practices.
D.3 Practical and theoretical knowledge of radiotelephone procedures.
D.4 Use of the international phonetic alphabet and, where appropriate, parts of the IMO
Standard Marine Communication Phrases.
E Optional examination module for the maritime mobile-satellite service for vessels
not subject to a compulsory fit
E.1 The general principles and basic features of the maritime mobile-satellite service.
E.2 Operational procedures and detailed practical operation of ship earth stations in the
GMDSS.

For pleasure vessels in Europe, the syllabus and examination tailored to ITU Region 1 is published by CEPT (not ETSI, sorry) in ERC REC. 31-04. The RYA has an authority from MCA to examine against that syllabus. The RYA does not have any ability to alter the syllabus or examination unilaterally.

 

[SaltyC]

You can blame the Germans! Seriously. When SRC started, it took me half a day to teach people the basics necessary and then I tested them. The Germans objected and insisted that it took at least a full day to teach people how to press the red button!. They threatened to refuse to accept our licences. So the RYA stretched the course and later on insisted the examiner had to be a seperate person from the teacher, all of which made the cost much higher than it needed to be. The as with all the other courses they pushed to take them away from clubs and into commercial businesses. At that point I gave up instructing altogether - it has become a money making racket.

Hmm appears to be a theme with the EU and on RYA training?

 

[st599]

Hmm appears to be a theme with the EU and on RYA training?

The SRC Syllabus has nothing to do with the EU.