The course itself is very reasonably priced in my opinion, especially when you experience it first hand and realise just what you're getting out of it...
$18 for the book (posted to you),
$25 for the course (two full days, tea and coffee included, BYO lunch)
$10 for the cost of renting the premises the course is held at.
$35 for the exam (fee set by the Wireless Institute of Australia)
$61 for the licence (fee set by the government)
The total cost to get an amateur licence then is $149, with ongoing costs of renewing the licence at $61 per year.
There's a couple of other optional costs as well -
$75 for membership of the WIA, the group that represents Australian amateurs to the government and overseas bodies, etc.
$17 to become a member of the WA Repeater Group, the organisation of Western Australian amateurs who install and maintain the various amateur repeaters around Perth and the rest of WA.
All-in-all it's a bit of money to stump up front, and you've got to have one complete weekend free and then the following Saturday to sit your exam.
But it's well worth it, you get to interact with others instead of passive listening, and it opens up a whole field of new stuff that you probably didn't even realise existed before now
