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Old 13th May 2021, 11:29 pm   #32
bikerhifinut
Octode
 
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: Penrith, Cumbria, UK
Posts: 1,993
Default Re: Amateur radio licence single exam to full

Has it escaped the notice of some people that the country has been effectively shut down for the last year and a half?
There just aren't the opportunities for people to attend clubs in person. Venues have remained effectively closed and will continue to do so for the short term as social distancing pretty much means you need a big room to put 12 people round a table with a 1 metre radius around them, never mind 2 metres.
Add to that the club stalwarts and senior members who have been isolated either by choice or necessity.
The RSGB had little choice but to overhaul the system, otherwise no new people would join the hobby at all.
Yes an awful lot of newcomers have signed up for and taken licences, being stuck at home with time on your hands makes you do this sort of thing and most will have had an interest beforehand anyway.

Even if clubs had been allowed to carry on, its an 80 mile round trip to my nearest affiliated club, hardly an incentive to attend night classes, and assuming the club has enough willing and qualified members to take on the teaching aspect.

I have been fortunate here, as we have an informal group of enthusiasts who welcomed me into their fold, and accepted my somewhat eccentric penchant for playing around with audio. AS far as they were concerned if it used electricity and needed wires it was relevant. (Not my words).
Anyway Lockdown was my trigger to get off my derriere and get some sort of formal qualification, not least so i could be more than an eavesdropper on the twice weekly nets the folks run here. One of the guys sneakily lent me a kenwood mobile 2m rig to listen in as I didnt have a VHF receiver. Anyway i was exhorted to get my foundation ticket so I would at least be part of the group via the local repeater.
I haven't looked back.
And the radio hobby can accommodate a vast range of interests. I've taken a somewhat unhealthy obsession with aerial layouts, to the point of working out a set of neighbour friendly masts to allow permutations of wire arrays.
Others may get into the details of the electronics or layout and design of circuit boards.
And so on.............
And here's a thing, the foundation licence IS simple but it at least majors on the regulations, and if it gets a 12 year old on board with a £25 baofeng and the kid decides is a good idea to carry on advancing then it's a win, for everyone cos that's a kid who will go on to greater things.
I am very appreciative of the volunteers who do the online invigilation, I think to denigrate the system as it stands now does no favours to anyone. If you think the world will go back to how it was even 2 years ago then you'll have a long wait.

Just my opinions, but to look down on those who took their tickets in these times does no favours to anyone.

73

A.
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