The International Telecommunication Union (for some reason, no s) don't set the exams, they issue legally binding Recommendations which are interpreted at local level by the relevant regional body, in the case of marine radio in Europe, that's the
It wasn’t a trick question - it just has multiple answers. Often with people who are adamant their answer is better. FWIW I don’t *think* 911 works on landlines or possibly even old “dumb” mobile phones (I believe it’s a “smartphone” feature?) - I have not tested that though.
Crib sheet.
Bad thought.....
Demonstrate to me that every ITU member state follows an ITU specified exam and I will discard my thought.
Do you seriously think that the RYA short range certificate requirements were somehow made up on the back of a fag packet or something? If you are so anxious about it why don't you email the RYA to ask them the standards required when the course was compiled and revised after each World Radio Conference?
No I’ve been a participant on a course and heard it for myself. I’ve spoken to others who have been on courses eye rolling at the cluelessness.
Of course much gets forgotten - but be careful that seems to be an argument for having to sit a refresher course rather than having no course! Who will (typically) be "better" someone who's never done any training and never actually used a set because they only have it for an emergency or someone who has done a course even 10 years ago, and who uses the radio from time to time.
It didn’t - he can use his vhf in an emergency without a licence! You would hope that if he required to do so that everyone else using the radio for non emergency purposes was doing so properly such that his call was not interfered with. However, I will strongly argue people should use their radio regularly so they are familiar with it, and therefore do the course.
if I was in charge - I’d take some stuff out and put other content in. Unless I happened to be in a class of people who were stupider than average I don’t know that you could go a lot faster - half the people on my course had never used a radio with a PTT switch, at the other extreme there was a recently retired police officer on the course who obviously believed he knew it all before it started but clearly didn't listen to some of the marine specific stuff, so had to get a lot of that repeated. I'm sure if you did it 1:1 you could get through in half the time perhaps less if you had some background knowledge BUT and instructor for 1/2 day 1:1 will cost more than a full day 6:1 or whatever is normal. You can now do the course but not the exam online - so to some extent you can control the pace.
Ok but that’s a ridiculous argument for the training that exists for existing equipment. I totally agree that the UI of VHF radios is atrocious compared to many modern devices.
Many years ago - before most people had a mobile phone in their pocket I used to teach first aid. People would get to the point in the protocol where they said they would call for help. We had a phone in the room next door set up for training-use-only that went to a colleague who answered and followed the official script. People back then were much more used to and comfortable with talking on phones than today - but still it would scare them, and many were not calm, clear and did not share key information despite it just being a training course. Emergency service call centres have got more sophisticated so have better scripts to guide callers through what is needed but only if you listen and answer their questions. Crib sheets in a particular format can just as easily "break" the system as help - if "your script" is not aligned with "their form" for data input.
In essence, yes. There is no international exam standard. Was 't that which caused the Germans anxiety.
I don't know what number you had in mind for cost or time, but it would be amazing if any official body could administer such a scheme for less than say £10-15 per sitting, and probably more for the first time. Lets assume registering, booking, log in, sitting test, etc takes a total of 1 hr. After 10 years its starting to noticeably more expensive in time and money than just doing the one of course.
Do you think its a good idea to encourage anyone who wants to to use Ch0, 80 duplex, etc?
Make VHFs more like mobile phones than Ceefax. And position is usually sent by the VHF set anyway, these days. Easy to use, easy to integrate sets are better than training which is soon forgotten, in my view.
My understanding is they don't set the exam but they define the broad framework standard that training and certification has to achieve. Then each country is responsible for implementing it appropriate to their local needs, training infrastructure etc. The "german complaint" was that "we" were interpreting the standard too loosely. I can think of very few walks of life where there is an internationally set exam, and it almost certainly gets more expensive if you do! There are lots of international cooperations where one qualification is considered to be interchangeable with another - and of course if one party gets too cavalier with theirs then the interchangeability becomes "at risk".
My German colleague wanted to take up angling. He had to sit an exam with more than 100 questions. None to do with angling technique. I suspect that is the German approach to all qualifications. Very strict and formal (formalists are the bane of real life,).
I 100% agree that VHF radios have dreadful user interfaces. Some are emerging which are designed to pair with phones - I'm not sure they re actually any better. BUT I'm not sure who you think is reading this thread - its not the ITU, the IMO, the MCA, Icom, Standard Horizon, or probably even the RYA. If you care, go write some letters to those people. Until they catch up with 21st century user experiences we will need to make-do with what we have.
Only if you use it correctly! Now we are back in a loop.
The product managers at Icom and Standard Horizon are rubbing their hands with glee that all they need to do is make a nicer box and you'll be sending them pound notes...
Do you think the call would have been better with no training? Because that's what you seem to be arguing for.
I wouldn't read too much into it that it was allegedly the German's that complained about "us". Presumably if the committee thought they were too anal they would have have said, "lets all follow the brits example, and clarify the standard".
My friend examines new doctors - she does their oral/face to face exam. She often finds herself marking people in conflict with their theory results papers and course work etc - knowing when to think quickly and when to make a carefully considered decision is not as easy as learning answers. In some parts of law the same is almost certainly true.
