Amateur radio enthusiasts in Richmond are about to run a series of courses this fall in a bid to lure people into their hobby.
The Richmond Amateur Radio Club (RARC) will roll out its “learning program” next month with certification courses, skills development classes and information sessions relevant to amateur radio to cultivate general interest in the pastime.
RARC wants to certify new radio operators into the hobby, which often overlaps into emergency communications.
The course schedule for the RARC Learning Program includes scheduled certification courses with Government of Canada (ISED) exams for basic and advanced qualifications.
A basic course is scheduled to start on Oct. 2; which includes a weekly one-hour online forum on various technical topics concerning amateur radio.
The annual RARC ‘Discover Amateur Radio’ seminar with invited subject expert presenters from the local amateur radio community, is planned to return in November.
The thought about creating a learning program was sparked by comments from visiting dignitaries at past RARC events saying that, “there is so much to learn” about amateur radio.
“It was during the last 18 months of the pandemic when RARC was offering more courses and special sessions that the club decided to coordinate all knowledge exchange events into an official learning program,” said RARC president and program director Urey Chan.
“Many of the courses and presentations have been delivered in the past and we are only organizing these value offerings under an umbrella program so they can be more effectively marketed and made available to benefit the amateur radio community.”
Roy Thaller, the program’s lead instructor and creator of TechTopicsThursday, added that the “the program aims to eventually provide a full spectrum of learning opportunities in amateur radio from the basic qualification course, required for obtaining a call sign, to classes and sessions that will help new hams get started…”
More information about classes, presentations and special sessions offered by the RARC Learning Program is in the course schedule on the RARC Website at: http://www.richmondarc.ca/learning147/schedule2021sep.pdf
