WA Radio Scanner Users' Group

Hi Guys,

I have booked myself in for the Foundation Exam.
Booked in Jan-Mar (not sure of the exact date yet)

Can anybody tell me what it requires of me? I've read the book 6 times now.

I don't intend to use the bands for transmitting, at this stage I am only looking to use a scanner to monitor the bands. It's mainly just to pass the test, and to obtain a callsign for the future. I want to get more involved with the "radio" hobby in as many practical ways as possible.

Thanks all, cheers!

Check out the page below for information.

http://hamcollege.com.au/wordpress/?page_id=10

radiotech wrote:Hi Guys,

I have booked myself in for the Foundation Exam.
Booked in Jan-Mar (not sure of the exact date yet)

Can anybody tell me what it requires of me? I've read the book 6 times now.

I don't intend to use the bands for transmitting, at this stage I am only looking to use a scanner to monitor the bands. It's mainly just to pass the test, and to obtain a callsign for the future. I want to get more involved with the "radio" hobby in as many practical ways as possible.

Thanks all, cheers!

Far be it for any of us to question why you want a licence - the more the merrier I reckon!

But of course you don't need a licence if all you want to do is listen. You could save yourself the time, effort and cost

The fun part comes in transmitting . Once you've got your licence, you'll be tempted to hit the PTT every once in a while, I bet

Anyhow, I see your profile says you're in Victoria, so I'm not sure what the courses are like over there, but I did mine through Ham College here in Perth and it was a very good course. What I describe below is all my experiences - it may be similar or completely different in Victoria depending on who's running the courses over there.

The instructors went into plenty of detail about what's in the Foundation manual, plus other bits and pieces that aren't in the manual but are handy to know about anyway.

There's opportunities to practice on HF and VHF, talking on the radio to a volunteer not at the training centre. And as well as the powerpoint presentations, there's practical instruction on things like testing an antenna lead for continuity using a multimeter, that sort of thing.

It's certainly possible to just pass the exam without having done a course, but doing the course is half the fun

On the exam day, you get to sit a multi-choice exam paper, then if you pass that you move on to an on-air conversation using VHF or HF and an oral / practical quiz.

The whole examination process - the theory, the oral quiz and the on-air QSO - took about an hour or so.

Then comes the most stressful part of the whole process - filling out all the damn forms that ACMA require... There's hundreds of the little buggers!!! (OK maybe that's a very slight exaggeration! )

Goodluck for the exam radiotech

I reckon!

Must be someone pretty talented

vk6jrc wrote:

WPXZBP wrote:Check out the page below for information.

http://hamcollege.com.au/wordpress/?page_id=10

Nice website!

Zebedee wrote:I reckon!

Must be someone pretty talented

That's why I mentioned it eh Rob.

Since I can't find my old C of P, I'm intending to start again. I've ordered the Foundation Manual. Taking into consideration that I've been licenced before, have been an electronics tech for 30 years and will have the manual, is there much point me doing the course? WIA says the book has everything I need. It appears, from what I've read, that I can just sit the exam with an accredited examiner once I'm confident enough.

Or not?

robbage wrote:Since I can't find my old C of P, I'm intending to start again. I've ordered the Foundation Manual. Taking into consideration that I've been licenced before, have been an electronics tech for 30 years and will have the manual, is there much point me doing the course? WIA says the book has everything I need. It appears, from what I've read, that I can just sit the exam with an accredited examiner once I'm confident enough.

Or not?

Contact the ACMA - ask if they still have your details on record and reactivate your licence. You should be able to get a callsign easily if you already had a licence.

WIA already said no paper proof=no way. I shall check in with ACMA anyway.

I'll still need the manual. I can't remember my QRZ from my QTH

Edit: Funny what 5 minutes of searching ACMA can do. Application for replacement issue of C of P. Just requires a Stat Dec and a good guess what my details were in 1977.

robbage wrote:WIA already said no paper proof=no way. I shall check in with ACMA anyway.

I'll still need the manual. I can't remember my QRZ from my QTH

Edit: Funny what 5 minutes of searching ACMA can do. Application for replacement issue of C of P. Just requires a Stat Dec and a good guess what my details were in 1977.

If you've previously had a C of P, then the Foundation course might not be appropriate for you, as it really is at that beginners' entry level.

If you can't get a replacement C of P, then why not just book in and sit the Foundation or Standard exam? Either way, you'd need to do a practical test and either the combined theory/regs test that is at Foundation level, or the separate theory and regs tests at Standard or Advanced levels.

Check with Ham College, I'm sure they'd be able to advise which is the best course of action for your particular circumstances

Zebedee wrote:If you can't get a replacement C of P, then why not just book in and sit the Foundation or Standard exam?

I will. I guess it depends on how good ACMA's record keeping and searching is

Zebedee wrote:Check with Ham College, I'm sure they'd be able to advise which is the best course of action for your particular circumstances

Already checked it out. Nice looking site. If the replacement falls through, I'll contact the good people there for sure. They might also be able to help me track down a guy I worked with for 13 years who had AOCP. We used to send morse in the workshop with compressed air

That sounds like fun!

I'm not far from completing (I hope) the Standard course with Ham College and I agree, it's well worth it. They do an excellent job.

My spies tell me you passed the exam this week .... well done !

Its a real mission to be able to get a course in perth these days.