VHF Course

[tokenjam]

I've just booked up for a VHF radio course as part of my inevitable progress towards getting on the water.
Have I just wasted a 'oner and a day' or will it be a real benefit?

 

[jhr]

Well, it's a legal requirement to have an operator's license if you're going to actually use a VHF, rather than just admiring it so, from that point of view, it's essential. The course mainly consists of sitting being told the bleedin' obvious and playing with a VHF DSC simulator before sitting an exam that, frankly, it would be hard to fail. However, it's useful in terms of understanding the basics of radio procedure and - most valuable of all - how to plan in advance for an emergency transmission that you hope you'll never have to make, rather than winging it in a blind panic if it ever happens for real.

I'd say it's worth it.

 

[bilbobaggins]

Adding perhaps a little to JHR's points....

Our VHF facility is part of the GMDSS system, and it's prime purpose is 'safety of life at sea'. It was never intended as a chat-line, and that's a large part of the problem.

The authorities want everyone to be able to use the 2-way facility effectively, and have been sold the idea that the exam should be very easy to pass. The majority of us will hear 'Urgency' and 'Distress' working somewhere nearby, each year. Equally, the majority of us have learned enough about how the system is supposed to work to avoid adding to the problem. Sadly, not everyone.....

It's also more than likely that many of us will be in a position, suddenly, sometime, to lend help to another at sea, and need to communicate effectively on their behalf to HMCG and others. A dive-club boat in mid-channel, two divers unsurfaced, two g/fs in the boat hysterical? A 19' sailboat being carried through the full-bore Portland Race in the dark?

Many would say the VHF syllabus is 'mickey-mouse'. Making it harder would simply put more peeps off doing the course. Ask your tutor - probably bored stiff - to 'squeeze all the juice out' and give you examples of where each dull bit actually made a difference on the water.

 

[tokenjam]

Thanks guys, very useful - I'm now looking forward to it

 

[snowleopard]

You will find there is perhaps an hour's worth of useful material but it is spread over a day (a) to justify the fees and (b) to present it at a pace that can me assimilated by the full spectrum of abilities, not just university graduates.

You need the licence to operate your set legally and for that you need to do the course.

For my job I have to go through all sorts of training, often repeating the same course every year or two. 'Equal opportunities', Health and Safety' and 'Recognizing abuse' aren't exactly riveting. You can go in with a 'this is going to be useless and boring' attitude in which case the day will be a big drag. Alternatively you can decide to participate and be positive and you will find the day goes by painlessly.

p.s. a few minutes listening to the VHF will show the result of not doing the course: "Over and out", "Skylark calling mudlark" etc.

 

[sailorman]

I've just booked up for a VHF radio course as part of my inevitable progress towards getting on the water.
Have I just wasted a 'oner and a day' or will it be a real benefit?

alledgedly one needs a licence to operate the radio but not to "Listen" to it
but you must have a Station / Ships licence

 

[Sandyman]

You need the licence to operate your set legally and for that you need to do the course.

Not so. We just applied for a License & they sent it no questions asked. We didnt even tell them of our background in Radio Comms........they just sent it. So why waste your money on a mickey mouse course when you can easily pick up the procedures by just listening to say Ch16 and reading one of the many books available on the subject. It is after all, very basic.

 

[earlybird]

You need the licence to operate your set legally and for that you need to do the course.

Not so. We just applied for a License & they sent it no questions asked. We didnt even tell them of our background in Radio Comms........they just sent it. So why waste your money on a mickey mouse course when you can easily pick up the procedures by just listening to say Ch16 and reading one of the many books available on the subject. It is after all, very basic.

Are you referring to the operator's licence or the ship's licence? The latter is now supplied free, on demand. The operator's licence is the result of taking an exam, AFAIK, whatever your background. Incidentally, you don't have to attend a course, although the exam is normally part of it.

 

[ninky]

you get a nice little licence with your picture on in a plastic wallet......

you don't need a licence to call a mayday or panpan.

 

[samwise]

You need the licence to operate your set legally and for that you need to do the course.

Not so. We just applied for a License & they sent it no questions asked. We didnt even tell them of our background in Radio Comms........they just sent it. So why waste your money on a mickey mouse course when you can easily pick up the procedures by just listening to say Ch16 and reading one of the many books available on the subject. It is after all, very basic.

Just listening to Ch16 on any weekend is guaranteed to bring up the usual crop of idiots hogging Ch16 to decide which pub to go to or who allow their charming offspring to clog the channel with brainless chatter and who would not know a working channel if it bit them in the handset. The course curriculum does include training in the proper and responsible way to use VHF and while there is no guarantee that the certificate ensures that the qualified individual will behave properly one would hope that it might have some effect.

 

[EdWingfield]

Adding perhaps a little to JHR's points....

in contradiction to Bilbo's point, I was self-taught and used the radio for years. I was never textbook, but assisted Coastguard rescues on a couple of occasions with fair competency.

The local community centre hosted a vhf course. I decided I ought to become 'honest' and enroled.

Now I'm legit it feels no different. I'm no better or worse.

 

[BrianH]

You will find there is perhaps an hour's worth of useful material but it is spread over a day (a) to justify the fees and (b) to present it at a pace that can me assimilated by the full spectrum of abilities, not just university graduates.

I agree but it seems the Germans don't, they are threatening to not recognise the UK RYA administered licence on the grounds that it is impossible to cover the syllabus in one day - they take two. In Switzerland it is two days plus a separate half a day in Germany for the exam.

In fairness, I have seen a copy of the German syllabus and it contains much more than the UK one, although of dubious relevance and practical usefulness. I took mine last year at Parkstone as the easiest option over where I live (easyJet Geneva <-> Bournemouth). I hadn't ever bothered before, hardly ever transmitting, but where I cruise (Croatia) is now making checks for licences, both ship and operator, when declaring into the country.

 

[NormanS]

Just listening to Ch16 on any weekend is guaranteed to bring up the usual crop of idiots hogging Ch16 to decide which pub to go to or who allow their charming offspring to clog the channel with brainless chatter and who would not know a working channel if it bit them in the handset. The course curriculum does include training in the proper and responsible way to use VHF and while there is no guarantee that the certificate ensures that the qualified individual will behave properly one would hope that it might have some effect.

It was good to hear Clyde Coastguard, the other day, saying "Warships transmitting on channel 16, go to a working channel".

 

[ign]

My two cents on the course... Useful as per all comments on the forum. It is worth inquiring if the course includes any reference/materials for you to take home. In the course I took, after showing the slides for the dialogues they picked them all back up and said we could go off and buy the book. Not that the book is expensive, but not that much in it other than what is covered in the course.